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THE VAMPIRE 
OF THE CONTINENT 



BY 
COUNT ERNST ZU REVENTLOW 



TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN 

WITH A PREFACE 

BY 

GEORGE CHATTERTON-HILL, Ph.D. 



NEW YORK 

THE JACKSON PRESS 

1916 



JJsil 



COPYRIGHT BY E. S. MITTLER AND SON 
BERLIN 



AMERICAN EDITION COPYRIGHT 1916 

BY THE JACKSON PRESS 

NEW YORK 



NOV -7 1916 



C1.A445589 

>t^;7 / 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

Translator's Preface .... .i ... . v 

I. The " Heroic Age " of the Britons. Sixteenth 

Century . 1 

II. The Pious Pirates. Seventeenth Century . . 15 

III. The Campaign Against the " Enemy of Peace." 

Era of Louis XIV ,29 

IV. "We Have Conquered Canada in Germany." 

Frederic the Great and England .... 40 

V. The Protector of Neutral Countries. The 
Liberator of Europe. Second Half of the 
Eighteenth Century 61 

VI. The Great Harvest. The Napoleonic Wars . ^ 78 

VII. England Digests Her Booty. The Continent 

Gradually Becomes Unruly. 1815-1890 . . 101 

VIII. Anglo-German Friendship and Estrangement 

After Bismarck's Departure. 1890-1895 . . 121 

IX. " And if Thou Wilt not be My Servant. . . ." 

From 1895 Till the Entente Cordiale . . . 132 

X. Delenda Germania. The Beginning of King 

Edward's Reign 155 

XI. Edward VII Prepares the Humiliation and 

Destruction of Germany. 1905-1908 . . . 159 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XII. The Incendiary at Work. The Campaign 

Against the German Navy 171 

XIII. King Edward's Unsuccessful Attempt to Set the 

Near East Ablaze. The Bosnian Crisis . . .178 

XIV. The Catastrophe Is More Carefully Prepared. 

1909-1914. 197 



TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE 

Count Ernst zu Reventlow's book " The Vam- 
pire of the Continent," of which I have much pleas- 
ure in presenting a considerably abridged English 
edition to American readers, cannot be too strongly 
recommended to all those who desire to obtain an 
insight into the hidden recesses of European political 
history, where the forces are at work which have 
shaped the evolution of Europe since about the mid- 
dle of the sixteenth century. It is the first syste- 
matic attempt to go to the root of things, to lay bare 
the developmental forces in question that have es- 
caped the attention of partial or insufficiently clear- 
sighted historians up till now. With rare penetra- 
tion and skill does Count Reventlow show all such 
forces to find their synthesis in England's Will to 
Power — to use an expression coined by Nietzsche — 
in England's insatiable greed, in her limitless crav- 
ing for the riches of this world. The center-point 
of European history during the last 350 years is to 
be found in London. It is here that have been 
spun all the threads of the countless political in- 
trigues, the result of which has been to turn the 

V 



yi TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE 

palaces and cottages of Europe alike into shambles, 
her sunny fields and pastures into a desert deluged 
with human blood. And, meanwhile, the barns and 
granaries of England were filled with corn, her ware- 
houses with goods of all descriptions from all cor- 
ners of the globe; her factories and workshops 
poured forth their products with quadrupled energy ; 
her warships prowled along the ocean highways, 
stealing all they could lay hands on, whether it 
belonged to friend or foe or neutral; and her trad- 
ing vessels transported her manufactured articles to 
all countries, draining the wealth of the latter in 
exchange, and filling the pockets of the British mer- 
chant with gold. 

The more greatly Europe was impoverished, the 
more did England's wealth increase. Therefore has 
England stirred up wars innumerable, in which she 
has herself taken practically no part, in order to 
ruin Europe economically, morally, and politically. 
Therefore has she always sought to prevent by all 
means the rise of any prosperous European State 
capable of competing with her in the markets of the 
world. She knew that, as long as she ruled the 
seas, Europe was helpless, and that the monopoly 
of the oversea trade belonged to her. Therefore did 
it become a fundamental principle of hers to destroy 
mercilessly the sea power of every nation, as soon as 
this sea power showed signs of growing to an extent 
such that England's " maritime supremacy " would 
be threatened. 



TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE vii 

Founded on piracy, the British Empire has been 
built up at the expense of humanity. The English 
commenced by robbing the Spanish treasure-ships — 
acts of murderous and dastardly brigandage which 
are held up to Englishmen to-day as deeds of prowess. 
They continued by robbing Canada and the States 
from the French, Gibraltar from the Spaniards, In- 
dia from the French and the Portuguese, South 
Africa from the Dutch, Egypt and Cyprus from the 
Turks, Malta from the Italians — and last, but not 
least, Ireland from the Irish. Over the whole world 
we can follow the trail of the venomous serpent, 
which has fastened its deadly fangs into so many 
victims. Over the whole world we hear the cry for 
vengeance and for redemption. 

The great merit of Count Reventlow's work is that 
of showing us the history of Europe in its true light. 
Pitilessly has the historian here torn to shreds the 
garment of hypocrisy in which the English seek to 
clothe themselves; spurred on by the sole desire of 
impartiality searching for the truth, he has rent 
asunder the veil which they have thrown over the 
real history of the world with a cleverness equalled 
only by their unscrupulousness. England is here 
exposed to the reader in all her hideous nakedness, 
with not even a rag to cover her sores ; in the cold, 
unshaded light of facts she appears before our eyes 
— no longer as the " Liberator," but as the Vampire 
saturated with the blood of its victims, as the Shy- 
lock gorged with ill-gotten wealth, as the Parasite 



viii TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE 

grown fat on the marrow of the bones of all the peo- 
ples of the earth. 

Count Reventlow's book is not only a book to be 
read ; it should be re-read many times, pondered on, 
slowly and carefully digested ; the great lessons it 
teaches us should be engraved in our minds. When 
the world has grasped the central truth taught by 
all the facts of its history during the last 350 3^ears 
or thereabouts — the truth, namely, that Europe 
has never been considered by England as anything 
else but an instrument adapted to increasing the 
latter's wealth and power: then only can the salva- 
tion of the world be hoped for. 

Spain, Holland, France, who, all of them, de- 
fended the interests of Europe against England, 
have been vanquished. But the victories of Eng- 
land were never obtained by England herself. Phys- 
ical courage, endurance, organisation, are not char- 
acteristics of the Vampire. England's victories 
were obtained by Europe against Europe. From the 
outset England succeeded in trading on the ignorance 
and stupidity of Europe; admirably did she under- 
stand how to wave red cloths before the eyes of the 
European bulls, skilfully goaded to fury by her; 
equally admirably did she understand how to enthrall 
them with sententious phrases about " liberty " and 
"justice," even as the mermaids of old enthralled 
unsuspecting mariners by means of their divinely 
sweet melodies. The English Mermaid bewitched 
Europe with her Song of Liberty ; and only too late 



TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE ix 

has Europe discovered that it was a Song of Death. 

But has she discovered it? We fear the truth is 
only just beginning to dawn. France at any rate does 
not yet perceive that she is being bled to death 
for the sake of England, who employs her to-day 
against Germany, even as she employed Germany 
against Louis XIV and Napoleon in former centu- 
ries. France, Belgium, Russia, Italy, are to-day 
England's instruments. By means of them does she 
hope to destroy Germany and Austria-Hungary; 
but she also hopes that by destroying these, they 
will have eo ipso destroyed themselves. The whole 
of Europe will thus be drained to the last drop of 
blood, exhausted, ruined; and on those ruins will 
England's trade flourish anew. The harvest reaped 
as the result of the Napoleonic wars will be reaped 
again. 

Such was England's calculation. It was a mis- 
taken one. For the first time in her history since the 
Elizabethan period, England has miscalculated her 
chances. Grievously miscalculated them! Ger- 
many has to-day assumed the glorious task of lib- 
erating the world from the clutches of the British 
parasite. She it is who continues the great mission 
of Napoleon, who takes up the sword dropped by 
him, and which France, unfortunately, is to-day un- 
willing to wield. In this great war everyone must 
take his part — for it is a struggle between light and 
darkness, between truth and lies, between manly vigor 
and parasitical cowardice, between civilisation and 



X TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE 

barbarism. Germany, the champion of the light 
and the truth, against the power of darkness and 
mendacity ! Under such circumstances, to sit on the 
fence would be contemptible. And those who cannot 
fight with the sword must fight with the pen. 

Germany, in fighting for her own existence, is 
fighting also for the liberation of the world. The 
great day of liberation will surely come, sooner or 
later. The conditio sine qua non of that liberation 
is the destruction of England's maritime supremacy. 
For as long as England rules the waves, humanity 
must remain her slave. This is a fundamental truth. 
And another fundamental truth is that England's 
maritime supremacy cannot be destroyed until IRE- 
LAND IS A FREE COUNTRY. 

The one criticism which can be levelled against 
Count Reventlow's admirable work is that it has not 
sufficiently insisted on this second great truth. As 
long as Ireland remains a British colony — or, 
rather, a British fortress — England can at any 
time shut off the whole of Northern and Eastern 
Europe from all access to the ocean; even as, by 
means of Gibraltar and Port Said and Aden, she can 
close the Mediterranean. Ireland is the key to the 
Atlantic. Release Ireland from her bondage, and 
the Atlantic is at once opened up to Europe. 

Therefore must Ireland be restored to Europe, 
if Europe is to be free. An independent, neutral 
Irish Nation would be the natural bulwark of Euro- 



TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE xi 

pean liberty in the West. The freedom of Europe 
depends on the freedom of the seas ; and the freedom 
of the seas depends on the liberation of Ireland. 

We hear a lot about Ireland's helplessness and 
poverty. And it is nothing but trash accumulated 
by England's scribes and hirelings. Ireland, the 
most fertile country in Europe ; Ireland, whose 
flourishing industry was deliberately destroyed by 
England ; Ireland, whose civilisation reaches back far 
beyond the Christian Era into the dim twilight of 
the ages, and whose missionaries carried, during the 
early Middle Ages, the torch of learning and piety 
all over Western and Central Europe ; Ireland, who, 
in the nineteenth century alone, whilst artificially- 
made famines wrought havoc amongst her children, 
furnished one thousand million pounds sterling to her 
oppressor for investment in the latter's world-policy ; 
Ireland, whose sturdy sons, broken on the wheel of 
misery, were decoyed to the number of 2,000,000 
during the nineteenth century into England's army 
of mercenaries ; Ireland, whose geographical position 
makes of her the connecting link between Europe and 
America, and whose forty harbors to-day lie empty 
and desolate at England's behest ; Ireland, whose eco- 
nomic and biological wealth has formed the basis on 
which the whole structure of the British Pirate Em- 
pire has been reared : — Ireland is a rich country, 
rich by reason of her economic resources, and rich 
by reason of the incomparable moral qualities of the 
Irish race. 



xii TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE 

Europe has too long forgotten Ireland, too long 
has she shut her ears to Ireland's cry of distress. 
And to-day the most far-sighted of her thinkers and 
statesmen recognise that the secret of Europe's fu- 
ture destinies lies embedded in the green isle of Erin. 

In his great speech in the Reichstag on August 
19th, 1915, the German Chancellor, Herr von Beth- 
mann-Hollweg, said : " The welfare of all peoples and 
nations demands that we obtain the freedom of the 
seas, not — as England has done — in order to rule 
the latter ourselves, but in order that they may serve 
equally the interests of all peoples." The words 
spoken by the Chancellor prove that Germany un- 
derstands the nature of the immense historical task 
incumbent on her; and we may confidently believe 
that she likewise realises the conditions under which 
alone this task can be satisfactorily accomplished. 

Despising the foul calumnies and the impotent 
vituperation of England's scribes, Erin waits calmly 
and confidently for the great day of her liberation. 
The best proofs of her invincible strength — proofs 
which no English lies can suppress — she carries 
within her bosom: namely, her Existence and her 
Faith. Alone against the most powerful empire in 
the world since the days of Rome, Ireland has sur- 
vived. The British Butcher has tried in vain during 
three centuries to exterminate her; and yet, just be- 
fore the war broke out, he was forced to hold out 
his gory hands in a vain attempt to coax the victim 
he had intended to strangle. Her race, her religion, 



TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE xiii 

her traditions, her language — Ireland has main- 
tained them all, and yet no foreign help has been 
hers since the days of Napoleon. Often has she been 
deceived, but none the less is her faith to-day stronger 
than ever. For England's difficulty is Ireland's op- 
portunity. These who, to-day, are intently listen- 
ing, can hear the groan of an empire staggering 
under the blows rained mercilessly upon it — they 
can hear, as if borne on the wings of Time, a music 
like unto a distant death-knell, tolled by bells of the 
future cast by German hands, strong, swift, un- 
daunted. 

And meanwhile voices are calling to us, voices from 
the grave, the voices of our dead — of the martyrs 
who died for Ireland, — sacred voices that we hear 
both waking and in dreams, and that bid us watch 
and pray and be of good cheer, for the Green Flag 
of Erin is to-day unfurled in the whirlwind along- 
side of the Black, White, and Red. 

G. C.-H. 

Geneva, September MCMXV. 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE 
CONTINENT 

CHAPTER I 

THE " HEROIC AGE " OF THE BRITONS 

SIXTEENTH CENTURY 

The average German considers the destruction of 
the Spanish Armada to have been a great and noble 
deed of liberation, for which the world owes an eter- 
nal debt of gratitude to England. This is what the 
German is taught at school, and this is what he reads 
in innumerable historical works. Spain, and above 
all the Spanish King Philip II, desired to force the 
whole of Europe into submission to the Catholic 
Church, and to prevent the development of the spirit 
of freedom. And behold! The Virgin Queen sends 
forth her fleet, and the world was saved : afflavit Deus 
et dissipati sunt. At the call of the Deity arose 
the mighty storm, which scattered the ships of the 
oppressor. 

We may well ask the question as to when these 
epoch-making events will be revealed to the young 

1 



g THE VAMPIRE OP THE CONTINENT 

German in another light? The naked reality of his- 
torical facts shows the matter to have had a very 
different aspect. 

About the year 1500 Spain and Portugal were the 
two World-Powers. According to a decision of the 
Pope, the globe had been divided by a line of de- 
marcation into two halves, of which the one belonged 
to Spain and the other to Portugal. Viewed in the 
light of those times, this somewhat naive division of 
the globe was not an unjust one. The great dis- 
coveries of the preceding century had been made by 
Spain and Portugal, and they had opened out 
immense perspectives. Neither Power, however, 
grasped the fact that what was necessary to enable 
them to maintain their world-empires was not a mere 
Papal decree, but an ample armed force. They neg- 
lected their fleets ; only too late did they perceive that 
in the North of Europe a nation had arisen, which 
instinctively recognised in piracy on the high seas the 
instrument adapted to its need of expansion. That 
nation was England. 

Not a single Englishman is to be found among the 
pioneers who prepared the way for the great dis- 
coveries of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. 
Neither do we find among the English any record of 
journeys like those accomplished by the Vikings of 
old — journeys undertaken for the sole pleasure of 
adventure, and of exploring unknown and distant re- 
gions. We find, on the other hand, alike in the Eng- 
lish nation and in its rulers, an extremely shrewd 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 3 

comprehension of the value of gold and silver — a 
comprehension already highly developed at that pe- 
riod. The news of the incredible wealth derived by 
Spain and Portugal from those oversea possessions 
which the genius of their citizens had permitted them 
to discover, gave the English chronic insomnia. 
They had themselves neither discovered nor taken 
possession of anything. What, therefore, more nat- 
ural for them than the idea of stealing from others 
what these others possessed? The idea was, indeed, 
the more natural, seeing that Spain and Portugal 
had neglected to build up their fleet. Thus began, 
as British historians solemnly tell us, the " heroic 
age " of the English people. It was an age char- 
acterised by organised piracy and highway robbery ; 
which was at first tolerated, and subsequently sanc- 
tioned, by the English sovereigns — especially by 
the Virgin Queen, the champion of Protestantism. 

English piracy sailed under the flag of Protest- 
antism, and of the liberation from Rome. Leaders 
such as Hawkins, Frobisher, and Sir Francis Drake 
fitted out expeditionary fleets and sailed over the 
ocean to the Spanish and Portuguese possessions in 
America. But their favorite trick was to lie in wait- 
ing for the Spanish ships filled with gold and silver, 
which they captured and brought in triumph to Eng- 
land, where these pirates were welcomed by Queen 
and people as champions of the Protestant faith, no 
less than of civilisation and progress. Or else they 
sailed to Spain herself, — without ever war having 



4 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

been declared, — and flung themselves like a pack of 
hungry wolves on the vessels at their moorings in 
Cadiz or Vigo, which they promptly robbed, burnt, 
and sank ; they then destroyed docks and warehouses, 
and massacred everyone they could find. This went 
on for years. But woe betide any " naval comman- 
der " who dared to return home without a rich booty 
in gold, silver, or colonial produce ! Even if his life 
was spared, he could be sure of a long term of im- 
prisonment, and of the lasting dislike of the Queen. 
In return for their heroic efforts on behalf of reli- 
gious freedom, the English wished to have at least 
plenty of ships filled with gold and silver. 

Spain at last resolved to put an end to English 
piracy, and the Armada was built. The English 
did not succeed in preventing the construction of 
the Spanish fleet by their attacks on Spanish ports, 
and by burning docks and vessels at anchorage 
therein — albeit Drake destroyed 150 ships and an 
immense quantity of provisions in Cadiz in 1587. 
The following year Philip of Spain endeavored, by 
means of the Armada, to punish the English pirate 
nation, and to ensure once for all the safety of Span- 
ish property. The unsuccessful result of the expe- 
dition is well known; we would only recall the fact 
that the Duke of Parma was waiting with an army 
in the Spanish Netherlands, and that a fleet was at 
his disposal in order to permit of his rejoining the 
Armada, and of landing in Great Britain. Eng- 
land did not adopt the only attitude suitable for her, 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 5 

namely that of the ambushed highway robber — but 
adopted instead the attitude of a defender of the 
Protestant faith. We still read to-day, in English 
history books, that Philip of Spain fitted out the 
Armada in order to force the doctrines of Cath- 
olicism down the throats of the English. The good 
Continental Protestants were full of admiration for 
the sacrifices endured by England in order to pre- 
vent a disaster to the pure doctrine. 

All the fundamental principles of Great Britain's 
insular policy were manifested during the long years 
of war between England and Spain — war which re- 
sulted finally in the destruction of the Armada, and 
the complete upsetting of the plan to invade Eng- 
land by way of the Netherlands. British policy, 
from the earliest times of British expansion, has al- 
ways remained the same, even if (according to 
Clausewitz) it has subsequently adopted different 
means for attaining its ends. 

When English sailors, under the protection of the 
Queen or on her suggestion, systematically pounced 
upon Spanish property ; when they attacked, in time 
of peace, the Spanish coasts, or Spanish ships on the 
high seas, or Spanish oversea possessions, there was 
never any sort of question of British rights, or of 
legitimate British interests, or of the defence of Brit- 
ish homes, or of the protection of the Protestant 
faith. The English simply coveted that which others 
possessed; and they were angry that others had it, 
and not themselves. Above all things they wanted 



6 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

gold. Not only the ancient English historians, bnt 
also the modern ones, admit this as something which 
is self-evident. Whenever an English " naval com- 
mander " cruised during months, or even years, on 
the high seas, in order to capture a fleet of Spanish 
galleys carrying gold and silver; when, in the midst 
of peace, he undertook a marauding expedition 
against Spanish or Portuguese ports, in order to 
rob, burn, and massacre to his heart's content, he 
was received on his return as a hero of the Protestant 
faith — provided he had been successful. If he came 
home with empty hands, he was despised. The 
" treasure ships," i. e. galleys laden with gold and 
silver, play an extraordinary part, which the Ger- 
man reader can at first hardly understand, in the 
descriptions of that " heroic age." But the ambi- 
tions of the English heroes of the faith were not lim- 
ited to the ships alone; with the sure instinct of the 
bandit de grand style, they soared beyond them, as 
far as the countries from which the precious metal 
came. Drake's " voyage around the world," which 
is still admired in Germany as the deed of prowess 
of an idealistic pioneer of civilisation, was nothing 
else than a thieves' raid. Admiral Freemantle wrote 
a few years ago concerning it : " Drake undertook 
an extensive cruise, in the course of which he burnt 
and plundered the wealthy coast towns of the Span- 
ish colonies, beginning with Valparaiso, the capital 
of Chili. He continued his journey, seizing all the 
treasures he could lay hands on He re- 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 7 

turned to Plymouth in triumph, the first Englishman 
who had sailed round the world, and laden with a 
million of pounds' worth of booty. Honored by his 
Queen, beloved of his countrymen, he then put to sea 
once more, in order, as he expressed it, to singe the 
King of Spain's beard. This time he left England, 
not as a private adventurer, but as an English Ad- 
miral, backed up by the authority of the Queen." 

Drake embodied the English ideal of heroism, and 
still embodies it to-day. The form alone under which 
that ideal incorporates itself has altered, although 
even the alteration of form is less great than is gen- 
erally supposed. 

Throughout English history, and up till the pres- 
ent day, we can trace the constant application of 
three methods : firstly, destruction of the means which 
the nation whom it is intended to rob possesses for 
protecting its property on the seas and oversea — 
i. e. its fleet, harbors, docks, etc. ; secondly, the seiz- 
ure or destruction of the trading vessels of such a 
nation. When these aims have been realised, Eng- 
land lays hands without further difficulty on that 
nation's oversea possessions. It is to be observed, 
that this policy and this method of warfare depend 
in the last instance for their success on the weakening 
of England's continental rivals. When the sea- 
power of the latter has been broken, the colonies fall 
off automatically, so to speak. 

For the first time in English history we now see, 
during the Elizabethan period, the relations between 



8 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

England, on the one hand, and the Netherlands and 
Belgium, on the other, clearly delineated. The 
Netherlands, as we know, formerly included Holland 
and Belgium, and belonged entirely to Spain till 
1579; after this date Holland became independent, 
while Belgium remained in Spanish hands. From the 
beginning, England viewed the Spanish Netherlands 
as a dangerous outpost of the Spanish world-empire. 
She did everything she could to assist the Netherlands 
in their struggle for liberty, and to detach them from 
Spain. The London Government hoped, in this case, 
to have a weak state at the other side of the Chan- 
nel and the North Sea — a state naturally inclined 
to be serviceable to England. The planned invasion 
of the latter by a Spanish army stationed in Holland, 
has become, for British statesmen, a never-to-be-for- 
gotten nightmare. From that day on the decision 
was taken, never to allow Belgium and Holland to 
come under the influence of any Power save England. 
As soon as the sea-power of Spain had been broken, 
England's interest was absorbed by a new problem: 
how to prevent the Netherlands from becoming them- 
selves a strong Sea-Power. 

If England came to the help of the Netherlands in 
their struggle against Spain, she did so, of course, 
under the pretext of defending the cause of Prot- 
estantism. The real reason, however, was to pre- 
vent any nation with sea-power behind it from ob- 
taining property and influence at the other side of 
the Channel. It is very conceivable that the Eng- 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 9 

llsh statesmen of those days did not first enunciate 
this principle as a theory, and put it subsequently 
into practice. On the contrary, they invariably 
acted in accordance with the requirements of prac- 
tical necessity. Neither must the experiences be for- 
gotten, that England had made in the course of many 
centuries during which her ambition had been to be- 
come a Continental Power. She had tried hard to 
obtain rights of property on the French coast, and 
in the whole of France. If England finally aban- 
doned her efforts in this direction, it was because she 
recognised that her insular position, in regard to 
European nations, far from being a weak one, was 
very strong. As a consequence of this recognition, 
arose her growing dislike to the despatch of Eng- 
lish troops to the Continent. Her fighting forces 
must be kept in the country, so as not to sacrifice 
them except on very favorable occasions. The de- 
struction of the Spanish Armada entailed the recog- 
nition of another great truth: namely, that an inva- 
sion of England was not to be feared, as long as the 
English fleet retained the mastery of the sea. A 
corollary of this truth was, that every continental 
fleet must be considered to be a potential enemy of 
England's prosperity and safety; and, further, that 
the danger must be considered to increase in propor- 
tion as the harbors serving as a basis for such a fleet 
are near to the English coasts. 

In this way did English statesmen come to the 
decision to employ on the Continent, as far as pos- 



10 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

sible, foreign soldiers to fight England's battles ; for 
the native troops, as we have said, must be kept in 
the country. The only possibility of applying such 
a decision in practical life, lay in inducing the Con- 
tinental Powers to let their armies fight for Eng- 
land's interests. In order to carry out this policy 
it was indispensable that the Powers in question 
should be made to believe that, in combating Eng- 
land's enemies, they were at the same time defend- 
ing their own interests, if not their own existence. 
Henceforth were the main lines to be followed by 
English policy in its dealings with the Continent, 
definitely laid down. The means adopted for pur- 
suing that policy were made to depend entirely on two 
factors: the circumstances of the moment, and the 
adversary to be dealt with. From the very outset it 
was tacitly admitted that nothing could be so dis- 
advantageous for the realisation of English aims, 
than harmony among the Continental States, i. e. 
peace in Europe. Peace must inevitably bring about 
increased prosperity ; and the consequence will be the 
growth of the sea-power of Continental nations, alike 
in the waters in the neighborhood of England, and 
on the ocean. Sea-power is the typical expression 
of the inner strength and unity of a nation — of a 
strength which must expand abroad because it can- 
not find adequate employment within the limits of 
the mother country. But it was precisely this grow- 
ing prosperity of the European Continent of which 
England had no need ! 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 11 

Very early did the English Kings come to under- 
stand the value of industry for a country. As the 
English mind was not productive in this domain, 
skilled workers were, in the later Middle Ages, sys- 
tematically recruited abroad. The manufacture of 
cloth, weaving, mining, ironwork, machinery, dyeing 
— all these industrial arts were brought to England 
by German, Dutch and French artisans. In this 
w^ay was the incapacity of the English people compen- 
sated for. The narrowness of mind, quarrelsome- 
ness, and intolerance of the Germans proved very 
useful in this respect; all the dissatisfied or perse- 
cuted German artisans went over to England. The 
stream of emigrants grew constantly larger as a 
result of the wars of religion. The English indus- 
try was slowly developed behind the impregnable wall 
of a prohibitively high tariff. As long as trade and 
industry and art were able to flourish in Germany, 
England was wholly unable to compete with them; 
for the German products were immeasurably superior 
to the English ones. But when the Empire decayed 
in strength as a consequence of political and reli- 
gious dissensions, industrial and commercial regres- 
sion likewise set in ; and England did everything she 
could to hasten the downfall. Whilst England was 
undertaking, during the sixteenth century, the free- 
booters' war against Spain of which we have already 
spoken ; whilst she was thereby increasing her sea- 
power to such an extent as to become, at times, the 
mistress of the ocean; — during this time the power 



12 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

of the German Hansa was broken, and the last em- 
blem of the latter's former greatness, the Hanseatic 
Steel Court in London, disappeared in the last years 
of the sixteenth century. 

During one hundred and fifty years English ships 
continued to carry out the policy of burning, mur- 
dering, and stealing immense treasures which were 
taken off to England ; all this was done in the name 
of religion, and more particularly of Protestant free- 
dom. The Germans, meanwhile, were busy slaughter- 
ing each other, and dissolving their empire in reli- 
gious strife ; the Thirty Years' War turned the once 
prosperous country into a desert, and annihilated 
the whole of that flourishing industry which had 
been the admiration of the world. England fanned 
to the utmost possible extent the flames of German 
religious strife. The English were pious people — 
especially the English Kings and Queens; they were 
of opinion that the Germans were perfectly justified 
in transforming their own country into a cesspool 
of human blood, for the glory of God and of the 
Protestant faith. In this manner was England 
spared the disagreeable necessity of fighting a dan- 
gerous competitor. The German wars of religion, 
the hopeless want of unity among the Germans, were 
among the important factors that contributed to the 
establishment, in later times, of the English monopoly 
of trade and industry. The stolen gold of Spain 
and Portugal, on the other hand, constituted the 
basis on which the future edifice of English capital- 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 13 

ism was reared. English capital, in turn, admitted 
of goods being manufactured and delivered cheaply ; 
and this cheapness rendered subsequently all compe- 
tition with British industry impossible. Soon the 
home market was not sufficient, and English goods 
were brought to other lands under the protection of 
the English fleet, mistress of the seas. 

At the end of the sixteenth century the East India 
Company was founded. Twenty years later Eng- 
land stole from the Portuguese the important com- 
mercial center of Ormuz, in the Persian Gulf. An 
English historian remarks drily that " this action 
marks the beginning of our supremacy in those wa- 
ters." The same historian writes : " An attempt was 
made to obtain possession of the Spanish colonies in 
Germany and Holland by means of a sudden raid. 
The enterprise failed owing to the unskilful leader- 
ship of the Earl of Mansfield. After this failure, 
the English Court applied all its resources to the 
fitting out of a fleet, in order that Cadiz might be 
sacked, and the Spanish treasure-ships captured." 
Great was the grief and anger in England when the 
unsuccessful raiders came back empty-handed from 
their excursion to Holland. 

In the course of her " heroic age," England laid 
the foundations of her future supremacy ; she did so 
by means of brigandage and theft, of violence and 
treachery, after she had perceived the strength of 
her insular position and had learnt how to utilise 
that strength. Her rulers had recognised the value 



14* THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

of a national industry, and had understood the 
means best calculated to favor its growth. 

The English of those days were by no means su- 
permen. They were not more intelligent than other 
nations ; on the contrary, during the era of dis- 
coveries they discovered nothing, and during the era 
of inventions they invented nothing. But they un- 
derstood the art of ploughing their fields by means 
of stolen oxen. And that which very clearly distin- 
guished them from every other European people was 
the greed of lucre as the fundamental mainspring of 
action. 



CHAPTER II 

THE PIOUS PIRATES 

SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 

Wheeeas the whole of the once prosperous Ger- 
man industry disappeared in the course of the Thirty 
Years' War, leaving a convenient vacancy for Eng- 
lish production to fill ; this was by no means the case 
with the Netherlands. After the separation of the 
latter from Spain, their industry and commerce 
reached an unprecedented height of development. 
Colonies were acquired in East India, in the Indian 
Ocean, in North America, and in South Africa. Dur- 
ing the German wars of religion, the Netherlands 
offered a place of refuge to many of the best elements 
of the German population, and also convenient and 
profitable investments for their money. Emigrants 
and investments contributed very largely to the grow- 
ing prosperity of the little country. If the Ger- 
man Empire had evolved normally, Holland would 
have become its " window " opening on to the North 
Sea and the Channel. Nature would certainly seem 
to have destined the Netherlands, including Belgium, 

to play this part. But the German Empire had 

15 



16 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

been turned into a desert, and its commercial im- 
portance had ceased to exist. 

The fact that Holland was able to become, in the 
seventeenth century, the greatest Sea Power in Eu- 
rope, is all the more remarkable in view of the circum- 
stances. And inevitably the question arises: what 
would have happened if only the Netherlands could 
have been amalgamated with the German Empire, as 
Nature intended them to be? 

The Netherlands were everywhere in England's 
way: whether as maritime Power or commercial 
Power, in European or in British waters, on the high 
seas or in the colonies. This could not be tolerated. 
Least of all could the Dutch be forgiven for having 
acquired rights of property there where the Eng- 
lish had so far only claims — in North America and 
India, and especially on the high road between India 
and China. England saw at once that she must have 
recourse to those weapons which had already proved 
so successful in the case of Spain and Portugal: the 
roots of Dutch sea power must be cut off, so that 
the fruit might then fall without further effort into 
the hands waiting to gather it. Unfortunately the 
majority of the Dutch were not Catholics, so that the 
war of destruction against their commerce could not 
conveniently be carried on under the pretence of de- 
fending the Protestant faith. England understood 
this, and chose another pretext accordingly. 

Puritanism was now dominant in England. The 
pious regicide Cromwell had uttered the significant 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 17 

words : " Pray and keep your powder dry." It is 
certain that the carrying out of this last recommen- 
dation entailed considerably more work than did the 
praying! The Germans have been in the habit of 
searching in English Puritanism for ideals which it 
never contained. The mainspring of Puritanism 
was the fanatical belief that the English people con- 
stitutes a divinely chosen race, which is destined to 
reign over all other nations and to monopolise the 
world's commerce. The " religious enthusiasm " of 
which it boasted did, in the long run, but serve 
the ends of egotism. As a matter of fact, Puritanism 
never got beyond the Ego ; and it was fundamentally 
irreligious. It believed itself to be entrusted with 
the mission of founding the Kingdom of God on 
earth. But this Kingdom of God was nothing if 
not a world-empire dominated by England; and its 
realisation further implied that the Chosen People 
of God should have the entire trade of humanity ex- 
clusively in their hands. Here we have the real spirit 
of Puritanism ; and it is neither an exaggeration nor 
a misrepresentation to describe it as we have done. 
The Pharisaical creed of a greedy and thieving race 
which, living in the security of an island fortress, 
cast, like unto a pack of vultures, its lustful glances 
over seas and continents — this hypocritical creed 
could not possibly recognise the Protestantism of 
other nations to be anything like as pure as that of 
its own adherents. A Christian people which should 
be stupid and criminal enough not to grovel in the 



18 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

dust before the Chosen Nation — which should even 
push such criminal folly to the extent of competing 
with that Chosen Nation on the sea: such a people 
deserves nothing else but annihilation. The God of 
the English commands it! 

It was not a mere accident that precisely those 
pious men should have waxed ever more indignant at 
the spectacle of Holland's prosperity, who were al- 
ways ready to commit every crime calculated to en- 
sure the glory of God and of England. Their in- 
dignation was justified; during the first half of the 
seventeenth century, at the very moment when a cer- 
tain reaction was visible in England after the " heroic 
age," Plolland had risen to the first rank alike as a 
trading Power, a maritime Power, and a colonial 
Power. By means of indomitable energy the Dutch 
had succeeded, if not in monopolising the oversea 
trade, at least in acquiring the lion's share of it. 
Their trading ships sailed along every coast, and 
did a very considerable carrying trade to and from 
English ports. Dutch industry flourished, and 
proved a serious competitor for English manufac- 
turers on the Continental markets. The Chosen 
People on the other side of the Channel could not 
possiblj^ tolerate such a state of aff^airs. The Puri- 
tan Cooper proclaimed that " delenda est Carthago" 
Carthage must be destroyed, Protestant Holland 
must be crushed, for she is in our way ! 

This was Cromwell's view. In 1651 he caused the 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 19 

celebrated Navigation Act to be passed. Hence- 
forth it was forbidden to carry foreign freights to 
English ports on other than English ships, or else 
ships belonging to the nation exporting the freights 
in question. It was a death-blow dealt at Holland's 
carrying trade. England likewise required all for- 
eign ships to salute in future the English flag when- 
ever they should meet it. The Chosen People thus 
demanded that all other seafaring nations should 
recognise its claim to rule the seas — and this was 
250 years ago! But this was not all. Cromwell 
demanded further for English warships in war time 
the right of searching all trading vessels belonging 
to neutral nations, in order to see whether or not the 
latter had goods on board which belonged to the 
enemy. We have already said that the Dutch ships 
were very numerous, and that they often had very 
valuable freight on board; as one may imagine, it 
was a splendid opportunity for the pious and morally 
pure English pirates to satisfy their greed under the 
pretext of the " right of search." Innumerable neu- 
tral vessels were captured, brought to English har- 
bors, there to await the decisions of the English 
Prize Courts. The latter had already in the seven- 
teenth century — just like they have in 1915 — the 
inestimable advantage of always condemning a cap- 
tured ship, provided the latter and its freight be of 
some value. The Dutch declined to submit to the 
convenient English custom. This angered the Eng- 
lish so much, that Cromwell gave orders to Admiral 



20 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

Black suddenly to attack the Dutch fleet in the midst 
of peace, under the pretext that the Dutch Admiral 
Van Tromp had refused to salute the English flag. 
Thus began the great war between Holland and Eng- 
land, which lasted, with interruptions, until 1674. 
If that war had taken place in our days, Dutch 
statesmen would probably have said, on the eve of 
its outbreak : " Not a single question can arise be- 
tween Holland and England, capable of causing a 
war between two civilised nations who are also bound 
to each other by links of blood." A crowd of peo- 
ple unable to form a judgment of their own would 
have accepted such cheap wisdom with enthusiasm, 
and would have abundantly denounced all those who 
held different opinions as jingoes, super-patriots, and 
so forth. It is all the more important for us, in 
judging the part played by England in the present 
war, that we should understand how Elizabethan 
England waged war on sea, simply because jealous 
of other people's prosperity; and how Cromwellian 
England, and the England of later times, waged wars 
under different forms, but with the same underlying 
purpose. Englishmen and Anglophile Germans have 
called the war of destruction carried on by England 
against Holland a " commercial war " — thinking 
thereby to justify it. Let us for a moment examine 
the question as to what a so-called " commercial 
war " means. By dint of hard work, enterprise, and 
skill, a nation has acquired a high position as a 
commercial and maritime Power. Another nation, 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 21 

less clever and less capable, becomes filled with jeal- 
ousy at the sight, and declares : " It is contrary to 
our dignity and to God's commandments, therefore 
must the criminal be destroyed." About twenty-five 
years ago an English review, alarmed by the first 
signs of a development of German trade, wrote : " If 
Germany were extinguished to-morrow, the day after 
to-morrow there is not an Englishman in the world 
who would not be the richer. Nations have fought 
for years over a city or a right of succession; must 
they not fight for two hundred and fifty million 
pounds of yearly commerce ? " At the time there 
were many, in Germany, who were of opinion that 
no importance was to be attached to such utterances 
as this, seeing that the England of modern times is 
a civilised Power loving peace. It is to be pre- 
sumed that these simple minds have learnt something 
in the meantime! 

It would be a pity not to mention, while we are 
about it, a significant passage which wd found in 
the work of a British naval officer some half-dozen 
years ago. (The work in question had obtained a 
prize.) "We — i. e. England — do not go to war 
for sentimental reasons. I doubt if we ever did. 
War is the outcome of commercial quarrels ; it has 
for its aims the forcing of commercial conditions by 
the sword on our antagonists, conditions which we 
consider necessary to commercially benefit us. We 
give all sorts of reasons for war, but at the bottom 
of them all is commerce. Whether the reason given 



^2 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

be the retention or obtaining of a strategical posi- 
tion, the breaking of treaties, or what not, they come 
down to the bed-rock of commerce, for the simple 
and effective reason that commerce is our life-blood." 

The above quotation should be inserted as a preface 
to every history of England, and to every discus- 
sion of English politics. The passages reproduced 
here are in truth classical by reason of their brevity 
and clearness ; and they were not written by some 
obscure scribbler, but by a British naval officer to 
whom a prize was awarded for his work by a com- 
mittee composed of politicians, economists, and naval 
men. 

England assisted Holland in the latter's struggle 
against Spain, under the pretext of serving the cause 
of Protestant freedom. During the war of destruc- 
tion subsequently waged by her against Protestant 
Holland, England relied for help on Catholic France. 
While England had, in the sixteenth century, given 
herself out as the " champion of political freedom," 
and had in this capacity come to the help of the 
Netherlands, she allied herself, in the seventeenth 
century, just as enthusiastically with the absolutist 
French monarchy, in order to destroy republican 
Holland. 

During the war with Holland, the typical insular 
policy of England assumed definite shape. This pol- 
icy consists in regarding the European Continent 
exclusively as a means to an end ; and in taking sides 
for or against a Power, or group of Powers, accord- 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT ^3 

ing as English interests shall dictate it. It may be 
objected that English interests do not necessarily 
remain identical' in each succeeding century; and 
that the point of view from which they must be 
judged will consequently differ. But to this, we may 
reply: English interests have always remained the 
same throughout the centuries, and their basis has 
invariably been a commercial one. And experience, 
which every century in succession has confirmed, 
shows that English commerce develops, and that Eng- 
land grows ever richer, in the measure that the Con- 
tinent is impoverished. The impoverishment of the 
Continent, in turn, grew in the measure that the 
nations inhabiting it were divided among- themselves. 
With regard to the war between England and Hol- 
land, it must be observed that the latter had never 
aspired towards territorial expansion, and had never 
been one of the great European Powers. England 
could not even allege, as a pretext for the war, that 
Holland had disturbed the peace of the Continent, 
and must therefore be destroyed in the interests of 
that peace. None the less did England proclaim: 
Carthaginem esse delendam. 

We must not overlook the immense historical im- 
portance of the fact that the two first wars of rob- 
bery and destruction waged by England were directed 
against Spain and Holland: against the former, on 
account of her position at the junction of the At- 
lantic and the Mediterranean ; against the latter, on 
account of her position on the shores of the North 



M THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

Sea and the Channel. Both these parts of the Eu- 
ropean Continent have ever since had the greatest 
strategical and commercial importance for England. 
The first step towards the establishment of Brit- 
ish supremacy in the Mediterranean was taken by 
Admiral Blake in the middle of the seventeenth cen- 
tury. Alleged acts of piracy committed on the 
coasts of Tunis, Algeria, and Tripoli furnished the 
necessary motive. Blake came to an agreement with 
the Bey of Tunis, to the effect that no English ship 
should in future be held up. The ships of other na- 
tions were left out of consideration as being without 
any importance. This event is in itself insignificant, 
yet it marks the opening of a new epoch in history. 
From that time onwards has England's supremacy 
in the Mediterranean, although neither recognised 
nor absolute, none the less been a problem of world- 
wide interest. The same Admiral Blake then went 
with his fleet into the Atlantic, where he joined 
Admiral Montagu's squadron, and waited for the 
Spanish treasure-ships from South America and the 
West Indies. They soon captured rich booty, with 
which Montagu returned home. But Blake waited 
for the rest of the Spanish treasure-ships till the 
spring of 1657. After more than two years, as Eng- 
lish historians boastfully tell us, his patience was 
rewarded, and he attacked the treasure-ships in the 
harbor of TenerifFe. The Spaniards — who were 
criminal enough to defend their property — were 
massacred, their ships and port destroyed. We 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 25 

have recounted this little episode, because it shows 
us so clearly how the pious and puritan English, 
with their eyes lifted up to Heaven, prepared the way 
for the Kingdom of God on earth. 

In the middle of her war against Holland, the 
opportunity presented itself for England to tem- 
porarily make peace with her adversary; whereupon 
she promptly concluded an alliance with Holland and 
Sweden against Louis XIV. of France. We likewise 
only mention this little episode in order to furnish 
a fresh proof of the ease with which England has 
always changed her alliances and her enemies ac- 
cording as the occasion required it. In order to 
facilitate such changes, it is customary to period- 
ically shift the men in power. Four years after the 
feat accomplished by Blake, an English squadron 
under Admiral Holmes attacked a large Dutch trad- 
ing fleet coming from the Levant, at the moment 
when it was entering the Channel. English arro- 
gance has, be it observed, long since added to the 
word " Channel " the prefix " English." Holmes' ex- 
ploit served as introduction to the last and decisive 
period of the war. England and France were united. 
In 1674 Holland recognised, by the Treaty of West- 
minster, the British supremacy on the seas. Eng- 
land's rival had disappeared from the scene. 

Henceforth Holland became England's ally and 
proteg^; the English nation and its rulers guarded 
henceforth jealously the "liberty" of the Dutch, 
and showed themselves to be passionate defenders 



26 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

of the rights of the weak, of the sacredness of trea- 
ties, and of the balance of power. In the course of 
time the balance of power has not only become a 
dogma of British policy; but it has become a prac- 
tical criterion, according to which this policy has 
been systematically applied in every concrete case. 
England is in the habit of addressing the world in 
the following terms : " Our policy aims at securing 
a balance of power on the Continent, in order that 
peace may reign there, and that no European State 
may develop at the expense of another." In the 
course of many centuries of struggle for justice and 
liberty, Great Britain has acquired the privilege of 
styling herself the legitimate protectress of these 
ideals, common to the whole of humanity. Such is 
the English contention ! In reality the English pol- 
icy of the balance of power means simply the stirring 
up of as many European Powers as possible against 
the nation which Great Britain, at any given time, 
considers as her most dangerous competitor. This 
nation is, of course, always the one which, thanks to 
its strength and prosperity, threatens to destroy the 
commercial monopoly of the Chosen People. 

As a result of the war with Holland, after which 
the two countries were bound by dynastic links, and 
as a result, likewise, of the further dynastic connec- 
tion with Hanover, England established herself once 
more on the Continent. The circumstances were far 
more favorable for her now than in previous cen- 
turies, when she endeavored to conquer France by 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 27 

force of arms. The new method was cheaper and 
less risky. Holland and Hanover became the out- 
posts of Great Britain in Europe; a part of the 
coasts of the North Sea and the Channel became de 
facto British. Such outposts possessed vast impor- 
tance for England's continental trade, and were also 
admirable political trump-cards. As for the par- 
ticipation of England in the continental wars, it was 
a fundamental principle of British policy not to al- 
low the precious blood of Albion's sons to be shed. 
But the British Government was consequently all the 
more generous with the blood of its continental mer- 
cenaries. The latter were allowed the honor of hav- 
ing their bones broken for the English idea of the 
balance of power in Europe. It is evident that the 
influence on European politics alike of the English 
dynasty and of the English Government, was im- 
mensely increased by these new continental connec- 
tions. 

A large part of the Spanish and Dutch colonies 
fell into English hands, and the maritime power 
of Holland was broken during the long war, dur- 
ing which Dutch trading vessels were captured and 
destroyed en masse. The neutral countries were 
obliged to submit to their ships being held up and 
searched by English cruisers, during every war which 
it pleased the English Government to wage. Such 
neutral ships generally disappeared then for good 
into English harbors. As soon as the Prize Court, 
with its usual solemnity and impartiality, had pro- 



28 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

nounced a ship and its freight to be lawful booty, 
both were promptly transferred into English hands, 
and the English trading fleet was increased by so 
much. 

This method proved most lucrative. Its steady 
application paved the way for England's future trade 
monopoly. Foreign flags disappeared progressively 
from the high seas, and were replaced by English 
ones. In this simple manner did England obtain 
possession of the thriving Dutch trade in the Far 
East. 



CHAPTER III 

THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE " ENEMY OF 
PEACE " 

ERA OF LOUIS XIV 

England now turned her attention to the third 
European Power, whose expansion and prosperity 
caused ever growing anxiety to the Chosen People: 
namely France. Under her Kings the latter coun- 
try had developed into a homogeneous, centralised 
state. By means of a clever and unscrupulous for- 
eign policy, in conjunction with the energy of an 
essentially progressive population, France had been 
able to profit immensely by the weakness and lack of 
unity of the German Empire. The German wars of 
religion, and especially the Thirty Years' War, af- 
forded France the most magnificent opportunities 
for expansion. By far the strongest European 
Power, France was also a maritime and colonial 
Power of the first rank. The great statesman Col- 
bert succeeded, by his wise and far-sighted admin- 
istration, in raising trade and industry to an un- 
precedented height of prosperity. A bold and 
skilful colonial policy was pursued in India, North 

29 



30 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

and South America. In Canada and in the south- 
ern States of the Union, the travels of intrepid 
French explorers had opened up for their country 
immense regions, the possession of which made 
France the foremost nation in America, even as she 
was the foremost in the East Indies. Recognised as 
the leading European Power, France was in a fair 
way to becoming the leading World Power. Her 
strength, and consequently the validity of her claims, 
resided in the fact of her possessing this pre-eminent 
continental situation, as also in the facts of her po- 
litical homogeneity and of the wonderful productivity 
of her inhabitants. During the second half of the 
seventeenth century, the people of England became 
aware of the existence of a dangerous rival ; and an 
English historian tells us that the learned men at 
his side of the Channel at once enunciated the theory 
of Louis XIV being the enemy of European peace — 
and consequently of England. For the moment, 
however, political circumstances in England did not 
permit of the latter carrying out her designs. She 
needed the " enemy of peace " to help her first of 
all in her war of robbery and destruction against 
Holland. Louis XIV, allied with England, waged 
war against the Dutch on land and sea. His chief 
desire was to destroy the Dutch trade; but when 
peace had been concluded between Holland and Eng- 
land, and Louis XIV found himself alone at war 
with the Dutch, the whole of the carrying trade, 
which the French had succeeded in wresting from the 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 31 

former, passed necessarily into the hands of neutral 
England. The war brought no advantage to French 
trade, and Louis recognised too late that he had 
labored solely for England. Not only had this la- 
bor been in vain, as far as France was concerned; 
but the maritime trade of the latter country was, 
as a consequence of the war, taken over to a large 
extent by Albion's merchants. 

Nature had destined France to be a maritime and 
commercial Power of the highest rank. She has 
three magnificent coasts. Her geographical posi- 
tion seemed to make her the heir of Spain — and 
not only the heir, but also the conqueror, in which 
case she must have extended her dominions as far 
as the Pillars of Hercules. It was inevitable that 
France should, in the North, turn her eyes towards 
the Spanish Netherlands (i. e. Belgium), and, fur- 
ther still, towards Holland. In this way, the two 
countries at the expense of which England had risen 
to power, appeared destined to become simple de- 
pendencies of France. The War of the Spanish Suc- 
cession arose about the question of the future re- 
lations between Paris and Madrid. Louis XIV 
claimed the Spanish throne for his grandson, after 
the death of its actual occupant. Had this claim 
been successful, France would not only have seen 
her continental power immensely increased by the 
possession of the entire seacoast from Dunkerque to 
Gibraltar, and from Gibraltar to Toulon - — but all 
the Spanish colonies would have been henceforth in- 



32 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

corporated in the already large French colonial em- 
pire. Last, but not least, France would have taken 
over the whole of the trade with these new colonies. 
The last-mentioned point was precisely the most im- 
portant of all. At that time, every colonial Power 
claimed for itself the right of a monopoly of trade 
with its colonies. Spain and Portugal still possessed, 
despite all that had been stolen from them by Eng- 
land, large and wealthy colonies. Had these been 
annexed to the French colonial empire, an essen- 
tially French character would have been given to the 
whole of the oversea colonial world. 

The English art of inducing Continental nations 
to fight Albion's battles manifested itself in its per- 
fection during the Anglo-French wars at the end of 
the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth 
century. The Netherlands, Prussia, and especially 
Austria, were stirred up against France, and nothing 
was left undone in order to involve the latter in ever 
fresh wars. England's statesmen knew perfectly 
well, already at that epoch, that such wars weaken 
all the Continental Powers, that they increase their 
national debt, paralyse their trade and industry, and 
render them impotent on the seas. A few years ago 
an English Imperialist, Sir Harold Wyatt, wrote 
that naval wars are always a time of harvest for Eng- 
land. The latter had already learnt this lesson from 
her Dutch war. Admiral Freemantle and other Eng- 
lish historians speak with pride of the era when the 
English fleet began to undertake the duties of " po- 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 33 

liceman of the seas," and to impose the pax britan- 
nica on all by force. The right of policing the seas 
has since been considered a Divine right of the 
Chosen People. This right consists in stealing as 
many trading vessels, whether neutral or not, as pos- 
sible, under some pious and lying pretext. 

Especially did the English need Austria, the old 
adversary of France — Austria, who had been ousted 
by France from her position as foremost European 
Power. In the seventeenth century Austria had a 
particularly heavy burden to bear: the wars with 
the Turks. These wars were very welcome to Eng- 
land, as long as they seemed to endanger Austria's 
existence. In the same way as England manifested 
a deeply sympathetic interest in the welfare of Chris- 
tianity and human progress, so did she consider the 
advance of the Turks through the Balkan Peninsula 
and the plains of Hungary with the unruffled calm of 
the businessman, who knows in advance the profit 
he will reap. The late Alexander von Peez, one of 
those who knew best the motives underlying Eng- 
lish mercantile policy, wrote : " The Duke of Argyle 
tells us that in 1683, when the Turks attempted to 
take Vienna by storm, the sympathy of the Whigs 
was with the Turks. The trading classes, whose po- 
litical representatives the Whigs were, wished and 
hoped to see Vienna captured by the Mussulmans.*' 
The reasons for such a pious hope were evident: a 
victory of the Turks would have produced incal- 
culable effects in the whole of South-Eastern Europe. 



34 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

The triumph of the Crescent would have spelt the 
destruction, or at any rate the prolonged paralysis, 
of industry and commerce in all the Austrian lands. 
In itself this implied an immense advantage for the 
English business world ; for the latter would then 
have been, in all those regions occupied by the Turks, 
without any competition, and it could consequently 
have fixed the prices to suit its convenience. The 
German wars of religion, and the persecution of the 
French Protestants, had taught the English that, 
under circumstances such as would necessarily have 
prevailed in the countries conquered by the Turks, 
the capitalists tend to emigrate and to seek refuge 
in England ; whereby the capital invested in the lat- 
ter naturally increases. 

The Austrians were disobliging enough to offer a 
successful resistance. English diplomacy then set 
itself to induce the Emperor Leopold to stem himself 
the tide of his troops' victory, and to send his tri- 
umphant armies away to the west of Europe. An 
English journal of that period expressed itself, ac- 
cording to Peez, as follows : " Emperor Leopold, 
having placed the general interest of Europe (Eng- 
land?) above his own, has withdrawn a large part of 
his troops from Hungary and the Lower Danube, 
and transferred them to the Rhine; as a result, Bel- 
grade and Nish have been re-taken by the Turks." 
When we consider these matters with calm impar- 
tiality, we are always tempted to ask ourselves : 
which was the most remarkable, the cleverness of 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 35 

England or the stupidity of the others? We believe 
the last of these two factors to have been the most 
important, and Austrians will probably share this 
opinion to-day. England did not desire to see Aus- 
tria-Hungary develop into a Balkan Power ; the for- 
mer has always regarded every expansion of other 
nations — especially when seacoasts, harbors, nav- 
igable streams, come into play — as an insult to the 
Chosen People and a menace to European peace. 
Thus did Austria voluntarily sacrifice the fruits of 
her victory, in order to place herself in England's 
service against France. Germany furnished, accord- 
ing to an ancient and hallowed custom, the battle- 
fields. The only Power which reaped any profits 
was, of course, England. Had it not been for the 
Franco-Austrian quarrels, William of Orange would 
never have ascended the English throne. Very 
rightly has Peez said : " England's freedom was 
saved by long wars on the Rhine, by the devastation 
of the Palatinate, by the sacrificing of the fruits of 
Austrian victories in the South-East." 

For our own part we always bear in mind the 
imprudent words of Disraeli : " England's influence 
has never been stronger than when her motives have 
not been suspected." Whenever her interests — or, 
as we should prefer to say, her greed — demanded 
that a Continental State should be destroyed or 
weakened, the London Cabinet always knew how to 
create complications for that State, and it then came 
to the support of the latter's enemies by one means 



86 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

or another. The countries to whose help she came 
were, of course, very grateful, and England's virtues 
were celebrated with enthusiasm. She was reputed a 
free country, which espoused, solely for moral 
reasons, the cause of religious liberty against tryanny 
and intolerance. Only much later did the Conti- 
nental nations begin to see that the whole thing was 
purely and simply a matter of business, and ex- 
tremely lucrative business, for Albion. And some 
nations have not understood it even now ! 

The War of the Spanish Succession likewise 
brought in a rich harvest for England. When the 
Peace of Utrecht was concluded in 1713, England 
was the only maritime Power in the world. The late 
well-known American historian. Admiral Mahan, de- 
scribes England's position at that period as follows: 
" England . . . meanwhile was building up a navy, 
strengthening, extending and protecting her com- 
merce, seizing maritime positions, — in a word, 
founding and rearing her sea power upon the ruins 
of that of her rivals, friend and foe alike." That 
this should have been the case, as it incontestably 
was, will perhaps not surprise our readers. Mahan's 
judgment is all the more interesting, as its author 
is an enthusiastic admirer of Great Britain and all 
her deeds. In fact, according to him, an unassail- 
able British world-empire is something so^ supremely 
magnificent, that all means are justified in order to 
create it. 

It was in the first years of the War of the Spanish 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 37 

Succession that England stole Gibraltar — an event 
of far-reaching importance. This event did not 
mean a return to the Continental policy of the Plant- 
agenets, but merely proved that England had risen 
to the rank of the first maritime Power — it em- 
bodied in a concrete manner England's claim to rule 
the seas. Henceforth her aim was to secure as many 
naval stations as possible ; and this aim could not be 
realised otherwise than at the expense of the Conti- 
nental nations. The latter, as far as they possessed 
coasts, were in future to be perpetually menaced by 
the guns of the English fleet. France had coveted 
Spain ; but it was England who stole Gibraltar, which 
commands the entry into the Mediterranean. This 
act of robbery was the second of the decisive steps 
taken with a view to ensuring England's supremacy 
in the last-named sea. 

Another important event which took place during 
that period was a treaty of commerce, which 
England concluded with Portugal — the so-called 
Methuen Treaty. England had wisely allied herself 
with weak Portugal; for the latter was a large, 
albeit defenceless, colonial Power. The Methuen 
Treaty was characteristic of English methods : on 
the one hand England conceded to Portugal a re- 
duction of the English duties on Portuguese wines, 
etc. ; on the other hand, she obtained for English 
goods the right of free entry into Portugal. An 
English historian has remarked concerning this 
treaty : " Our alliance with Portugal and the Methuen 



38 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

Treaty between them gave England the monopoly 
of Portuguese trade." The final result was that 
Portugal's industry was annihilated by English com- 
petition ; Portugal was compelled to purchase every- 
thing for itself and its colonies from English pro- 
ducers ! The exported products were shipped on 
English vessels, and thus did it come about that the 
entire carrying-trade to and from the Portuguese 
colonies fell into English hands. It is a historical 
fact that the Methuen Treaty completed the irrep- 
arable ruin of Portugal. Concluded in 1703, it 
has obliged Portugal to remain England's obedient 
vassal down to the present day. 

England's statesmen have therefore every reason 
to speak in the most caressing and loving way of their 
dear friend and ally Portugal ! 

It is not less interesting to consider the Assiento 
Treaty between Spain and England which was 
incorporated in the Treaty of Utrecht. The As- 
siento Agreement enabled England to import every 
year a certain number of negroes into the Spanish 
colonies ; it gave her the further right of sending 
every year a trading ship to Portobello. In this way 
did England open for herself a market in the Spanish 
possessions, thanks to which the products of English 
industry could be despatched thither in ever increas- 
ing quantities. The Assiento Treaty shattered the 
Spanish colonial trade monopoly as effectively as the 
Methuen Treaty shattered that of the Portuguese. 
The great plan of Louis XIV had been to unite 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 39 

France, Spain, and Portugal in one vast Continental 
and Colonial Empire. The two treaties above men- 
tioned show us clearly how this plan had collapsed, 
and how immense was England's profit — especially 
by comparison with England's sacrifices. The Eng- 
lish losses in the naval war had been very small, and 
those on land had been smaller still ; for the so-called 
" English " armies on the Continent, commanded by 
Marlborough, were not English at all, but German. 
England had sacrificed nothing but money, just as 
every business firm must advance the costs of founda- 
tion of a new enterprise. But such a firm knows be- 
forehand that it will recoup those costs ; so did Eng- 
land. She recouped them along with colossal inter- 
est, although her risks had been insignificant, seeing 
that the enemy could not possibly do her any great 
harm. The belligerents on the Continent, however, 
fought so desperately and so long for England's 
business interests, that over and above the profits 
already indicated, England was able to evict France 
from her settlements in India, Canada, and the United 
States. 

It was the same old story : the Continental nations 
obtained for England, at the cost of their own blood 
and riches, the control of the seas and the predomi- 
nant position as colonial Power. The English 
statesmen understood this perfectly well. We are 
told that William Pitt the Elder once said that he 
would conquer America on the battlefields of Ger- 
many. 



CHAPTER IV 

" WE HAVE CONQUERED CANADA IN 
GERMANY " 

FREDERIC THE GREAT AND ENGLAND 

William Pitt was one of the greatest statesmen 
that England ever produced, he was a man whom 
people never tire of praising for his noble-hearted- 
ness. Around the middle of the eighteenth century 
he expressed himself as follows : " France is chiefly 
... to be dreaded by us in the light of a maritime 
and commercial power. . . . All that we gain on 
this system is fourfold to us by the loss which ensues 
to France. . . . Surrender (of St. Pierre and Mique- 
lon) would enable her to recover her marine." 
This was, therefore, the point of view of that noble- 
hearted statesman, in whose opinion not nearly 
enough loss and humiliation had been inflicted on 
France. W^hat England considered to be most par- 
ticularly advantageous v.as the loss suff^ered by her 
rival. This was after the war of the Austrian Suc- 
cession, during which England had employed Austria 
against France, according to her usual methods. 

Whilst France was busy with the war on land, Eng- 

40 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 41 

land captured enormous booty on sea. Mahan tells 
us that the commerce of all three nations — France, 
Holland, and England — had suffered enormously ; 
" but," he continues, " the balance of prizes in favor 
of Great Britain was estimated at £2,000,000. . . . 
France was forced to give up her conquests for want 
of a navy, and England saved her position by her 
sea power, though she had failed to use it to the best 
advantage." Mahan's last statement is correct, but 
this was more than compensated for by the fact that 
England possessed obliging Continental Allies, who 
took upon themselves to weaken France. As usual 
it was England's chief partner, i.e., Austria, who did 
the worst business ; she lost Silesia, and a large part 
of Northern Italy (which she surrendered to the 
King of Sardinia) ; and she was compelled, as the 
result of these losses, to enter into her alliance with 
France. 

While these sudden and unforeseen changes were 
taking place in the political system of Europe, 
English ships were chasing the French ones, and 
finally forced, by their unceasing attacks and vexa- 
tions, the King of France to declare war. 

This brings us to the part played by England in 
the Seven Years' War. In the opinion of the English 
statesmen, the moment had come to complete the 
theft of the French Colonial Empire. Too much 
had also remained of the French trading fleet. Six 
months before the declaration of war an English fleet 
sailed into the Bay of Biscay, and did not leave it 



4a THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

before capturing 300 French trading ships, worth 
$6,000,000. Subsequently England blockaded the 
French coasts, and captured all the ships — bellig- 
erent or neutral — bound for French ports. Not 
only did the English recognise that the time of the 
harvest had come, but, with the unerring instinct of 
the bandit, they determined to reap the maximum. 
Frederic the Great waged with true heroism a long 
and desperate war on the Continent, in which he 
earned for himself immortal fame; only with great 
difficulty did he manage to safeguard the frontiers 
of his country, whereas England filled, thanks to him, 
the pockets of her shopkeepers. " Without the vic- 
tories of the Prussian grenadiers there would be to- 
day no English world-trade " : such is the verdict of 
Schmoller. 

Frederic the Great was obliged to ally himself with 
England, and to accept English subsidies. He was 
fighting for the existence of Prussia, England — as 
usual — for her own purse ; she knew that the sub- 
sidies were in the nature of an investment yielding 
immense profits. The result of the war was that 
England received Canada and Florida, besides the 
whole of the United States east of the Mississippi. 
Spain received from France the territory west of that 
river. In India, France renounced the right of ex- 
erting political influence. England's aim had been 
realised. Her booty on sea and oversea was colossal ; 
whereas the Continental nations were exhausted by 
the loss of blood and money, and the distribution 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 43 

of territory in Europe remained almost the same as 
it had been previously. It is interesting to notice 
what Frederic the Great thought about his ally, 
England, during the Seven Years' War. It was clear 
to him, from the beginning, that England, if she 
wanted to do so, could render him very efficacious 
assistance — all the more so as Frederic had recog- 
nised the great error committed by France in giving 
up the fundamental principle of the policy she had 
hitherto pursued: namely, the energetic carrying on 
of the maritime war with England. Under these cir- 
cumstances it was much easier for the latter to come 
to Prussia's help. " Nothing," we read, " was of 
greater importance to the King of Prussia at this 
time, than the news of the English preparations for a 
Continental war." History tells us what became of 
all these preparations. 

Frederic's verdict concerning the part played by 
England is well known, and he has himself put it on 
paper : " When she concluded peace with France, 
England sacrificed Prussia's interests in the most 
shameless manner. She then committed an even 
more disgraceful breach of faith. She offered 
Austria the re-conquest of Silesia, and in return for 
this humiliation inflicted on Prussia the Court of 
Vienna was to be allowed to resume its former friendly 
relations with England. As if all this treachery 
were not yet enough, English diplomacy was busy in 
St. Petersburg trying to stir up a feud between the 
King of Prussia and Czar Peter III. So much 



U THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

malignity and so much open hostility destroyed all 
the links once uniting Prussia and England. The 
alliance, which common interests had concluded, was 
replaced by bitter enmity and intense hatred." 
From the very beginning of the war Frederic had 
rightly desired that England should send a fleet into 
the Baltic and bombard the port of Cronstadt. He 
attached the greatest value to such a manoeuvre. 
But " England ruled the ocean and all the other seas ; 
she cared, consequently, nothing for the Baltic or 
the Sound. She attached little importance to the 
measures taken by the three Northel-n Powers, whose 
ships barred the entrance to the Baltic. The Eng- 
lish Admirals had taken Cape Breton (at the entrance 
to the Gulf of St. Lawrence), and had occupied the 
island of Gorea (on the African coast). India of- 
fered them every opportunity for conquests ; and 
they would have had none on the coasts of Denmark, 
Sweden, and Russia. 

" The great successes of the English in no wise 
diminished the weight of the burden borne by the 
King of Prussia, any more than they safeguarded his 
throne. He asked them in vain for a fleet to protect 
his Baltic ports, which were menaced alike by Russia 
and Sweden. The overweeningly arrogant Eng- 
lish nation, which has hitherto been uniformly fa- 
vored by luck, and which considers exclusively its own 
business interests, despised its allies as if they were 
mercenaries. England was perfectly indiff'erent to 
everything outside trade. Neither Parliament nor 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 45 

people paid the smallest attention either to the war 
in Germany or to Prussian interests. Everything 
that was not English was looked down on. The 
English were, in fact, such unreliable allies that they 
even stood in the way of the King during the negotia- 
tions, when common decency would have required 
them to support him." Frederic was here referring 
to his efforts to conclude an alliance with the Sub- 
lime Porte, in view of inducing Turkey to march 
against Austria. England obstructed these negotia- 
tions by all the means at her disposal, because she 
feared that an increase of Prussian influence in the 
Near East would entail an increase of Prussian 
trade. 

Such was Frederic's opinion of his English allies, 
whose help he had been forced to accept owing to 
the extremely unfavorable circumstances in which 
he was placed. We will ourselves complete the in- 
formation imparted by the Prussian King: during 
the war, and especially towards its close, England 
endeavored to negotiate with all the enemies of 
Prussia — not only with Austria and Russia, but also 
with France. She informed the Czar of her read- 
iness to obtain from Prussia any territorial conces- 
sions which the former might wish for, and exactly 
at the same time she offered Austria Silesia ; she also 
proposed to the French Government that the latter 
should, after the conclusion of peace, enter into pos- 
session of Wesel, Geldern, and the surrounding dis- 
tricts. We unfortunately lack space to discuss in 



46 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

detail the perfidious game then played by English 
statesmen. But the spectacle teaches us once more 
the time-honored truth, which is still ignored by some 
today, and which Frederic expressed by saying that 
the English care for nothing outside their own trad- 
ing interests, and that they despise their allies as 
mercenaries. One can go still further, and say that 
England never really espouses the cause of another 
country, even when she is allied with it ; such a coun^ 
try merely appears to her as useful for the moment, 
in so far as it serves England's mercantile interests. 
These interests are not always to be found on the 
surface ; but they are always at the bottom of every 
political combination entered into by the politicians 
in London. As soon as England, during the Seven 
Years' War, had reaped her own abundant harvest 
and was certain that the conclusion of peace could 
not in any way diminish her profits, she at once 
sacrificed without hesitation the interests of Prussia, 
and broke the treaty she had signed with Frederic. 
And yet, without Prussia and Frederic, England 
would never have been able to drive France either 
from North America or India! Had France not 
been weakened by the war with Prussia, the former 
would have been able to play a very different part 
on the seas. But all that counted for nothing. 
Prussia was not to be permitted to extend her bound- 
aries, nor to increase her strength ; France had been 
sufficiently weakened; as for Austria and Russia, 
they could, by means of skilful wirepulling, be made 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 47 

to serve Great Britain's interests usefully. Con- 
sequently did England desire the prompt conclusion 
of peace. No one was allowed to gain anything by 
such a peace, except England. 

Pitt had spoken truly, when he said : " We have won 
Canada in Germany." Although the Seven Years' 
War, with its oversea expeditions and its subsidies, 
had cost England a good deal of money ; it was very 
soon seen that one of its first results was to bring 
about an astonishing development of all the branches 
of England trade and industry. In other writings 
of his, Frederic the Great has noted down this rise of 
prosperity, not without surprise ; he remarks that the 
national debt was enormous, but that, on the other 
hand, the general level of wealth was extraordinarily 
high. After the war it was all the easier to reduce 
progressively the national debt, as an ever-growing 
income of gigantic proportions was accruing, not 
only to individuals, but also to the state — espe- 
cially from India. But treasures and products of 
all sorts arrived also from all the other colonies. 
The British trading fleet ruled the seas ; for the Royal 
Navy had conscientiously done its duty, and thou- 
sands of foreign trading ships — - the property of 
enemies, neutrals, friends, and allies alike (for Eng- 
land is always delightfully impartial in these matters) 
— had disappeared. As usual, after a Continental 
war, industry, commerce (with the exception of a 
little coasting trade), and the entire force of pro- 
duction, were ruined. Under the influence of peace, 



48 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

the wants of the population asserted themselves once 
more; but its strength did not allow it to satisfy 
those wants itself, to build up a new trading fleet, 
to develop a new industry. England's industry did 
the work. It must also be observed that the capital 
wealth of Great Britain had immeasurably increased, 
and had assumed ever more and more the aspect of an 
octopus sucking the life-blood of the other European 
nations. The more numerous the wars which those 
nations were compelled to wage for England, the 
more crushing did England's superiority in this 
respect become. Ever less and less grew the com- 
petition capable of exerting an influence either on the 
selling or on the purchasing prices of English in- 
dustry. Gold and raw materials flowed free of cost, 
and in an uninterrupted stream, into England; they 
either came from England oversea possessions, or 
from Spanish and Portuguese colonies, the exploita- 
tion of which England had reserved by treaty to her- 
self. Thus was business doubly profitable. We must 
also remember that the great majority of freights 
were shipped on board England vessels ; and that in 
this way also money flowed into English purses. 

During the Continental wars England acquired an 
immense colonial empire ; that is to say, she robbed 
a quantity of territories belonging to other people, 
after having reduced the European nations to im- 
potence on sea by stirring them up one against 
another. The same policy enabled England to ac- 
quire practically the whole of the shipping trade, 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 49 

and to establish herself as mistress of the seas. 

France had lost many vitally important things, 
both in the shape of territory and in that of prestige. 
But the French only came to recognise the extent of 
their losses later on ; and they soon forgot the lesson. 

An interesting page in the history of the Seven 
Years' War is that which deals with the attitude of 
England towards Spain. France had signed a con- 
vention with Spain, with a view to obtaining Spanish 
assistance. This assistance was to be rendered a 
year after the signing of the agreement; it was thus 
in the nature of a long-term bill. England seized 
the opportunity to attack Spain, and to pounce with 
her usual vulture-like rapacity on the Spanish colonies 
and on Spanish vessels ; she likewise continued her 
piratical forays against the French coasts. It was 
especially the silver cargoes which excited the greed 
of the pious English heroes of the sea. English 
historians still regret that Pitt's advice to attack 
Spain was not followed earlier. If it had been, many 
more " glorious " successes could have been obtained. 
Campbell wrote in his Lives of British Admirals the 
following exquisite passage: " Spain is just the coun- 
try which England can always fight with the best 
chances of acquiring fame and success. Her immense 
empire is weak in its center-point ; the sources from 
which help can be obtained are far away; and the 
Power which commands the sea will be able to obtain 
without difficulty the wealth and the commerce of 
Spain." We are here told candidly that an attack 



50 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

on the weak Spanish empire offered every prospect of 
success, and of the acquisition of fame ( ! ). For 
this reason was Spain attacked at every possible op- 
portunity, and her still wealthy and immense empire 
perpetually plundered. The center-point of that 
empire was weak. Spain's weakness resided in the 
fact that her sea power had been destroyed; she 
believed erroneously that local garrisons placed in 
the colonies would be able, by means of coast defences 
to maintain the cohesion of a great imperium. But 
between Spain and her colonies the British fleet had 
wedged itself in. In a similar manner was France 
separated from her oversea possessions. It was by 
means of robbery and piracy that England had de- 
veloped into a world-Power at the expense of Europe. 



CHAPTER V 

THE PROTECTOR OF NEUTRAL COUNTRIES 
— THE LIBERATOR OF EUROPE 

SECOND HALF OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 

France set herself, with remarkable energy, to re- 
build her fleet, which had been annihilated in 1759. 
But the decision came too late, and the errors of past 
years could not be repaired. Matters stood some- 
what more favorably in the case of Spain ; but Eng- 
land had long since forgotten to fear the Spaniards 
at sea, and rightly so, for the latter have never shown 
themselves equal to the English on the waters. 

In the third quarter of the 18th century, began the 
American War of Independence ; both in France and 
Spain the hope of crushing the pirate empire dawned 
again. This hope was destined to end in disappoint- 
ment; once more was the Continent vanquished by 
the Island. True, England was often in difficulties, 
on account of the immense extension of the seat of 
war; but, as far as her struggle with France and 
Spain was concerned, it was in reality decided as 
soon as it began. A very important factor of Eng- 
lish success and English strength in all these wars, 

51 



52 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

was the skill with which England's statesmen and 
admirals invariably treated the Continent as a whole. 
We have more than once drawn attention to the fact 
that not only England's enemies, but also neutral 
countries, and even England's friends, had to suffer 
during a maritime war. Under the pretext of dam- 
aging the enemy, all trade was forbidden alike with 
hostile and with neutral ports ; and the English cap- 
tured impartially every ship that sailed the seas 
under foreign flag. This policy, consistently fol- 
lowed out, had the result of gradually eliminating 
the flags of all neutral and hostile countries, and 
of replacing them by the English flag. With special 
rigor had England maintained a claim first advanced 
by her during the Dutch wars : namely, that of seiz- 
ing on neutral ships cargoes destined for the enemy. 
During the war between England, on the one hand, 
and France and Spain, on the other, neutral ship- 
ping in the North and the Baltic Seas had suff^ered 
greatly ; for England did not wish France and Spain 
to obtain corn and wood from the countries border- 
ing the Baltic. Thereupon France and Spain allied 
themselves with Russia, Sweden, and Denmark ; and 
the " armed neutrality of the Baltic Powers " was 
proclaimed under Russia's leadership. Here at last 
we see an eff'ort made by a part of the Continent to 
offer joint resistance to the monstrous claims and the 
insatiable greed of England, and to demand just and 
considerate treatment. The following concessions 
were required from Great Britain: immunity of the 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 53 

enemy's cargoes carried under neutral flag ; arms and 
munitions alone to be contraband, and not foodstuffs 
nor wood for building purposes — provided they be 
not destined for the Government of a belligerent 
nation; neutral ships to have the right of going to 
the unblockaded ports of a belligerent country, and 
of carrying on trade along the latter's coasts ; 
lastly, blockades to be only recognised when a suffi- 
cient naval force effectively bars the entrance to the 
blockaded port. 

We need scarcely point out how closely the de- 
mands made by the neutral Powers in 1780 resemble 
those formulated in 1914-15. Not only does this 
hold good of the definition of the word " contra- 
band " ; but also of the demand that a harbor or a 
coast shall be considered as legally blockaded only 
when the blockade is effective, i. e. when a sufficient 
fleet is present to enforce it. This claim was raised, 
in 1780, against one of the worst of England's tra- 
ditional methods of warfare. It had always been 
the custom of the English simply to declare a coast 
to be " blockaded " — even when no English ships 
were in the neighborhood. This was the so-called 
"paper-blockade," or, as the French called it, le 
blocus anglais: a most convenient invention! Such a 
method released the English fleet from all the duties 
incumbent on the blockading party ; it permitted 
English trade to reap free of cost all the advantages 
of the blockade, e. g. the right of seizure of all vessels, 
neutral or hostile, etc. ; it rendered the Continent 



54 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

wholly dependent on English ships for its sea com- 
munications. Concerning this question, and also 
concerning the other, to the effect that the neutral 
flag may cover cargo destined for the enemy or ex- 
ported by the latter, England had been negotiating 
with the leading Continental Powers during more 
than a hundred years. England had often admitted 
the demands in question, but only in times of peace. 
When herself engaged in war, she despised such inter- 
national agreements as much then as now. 

One after another nearly all the Continental 
Powers, including Prussia, joined the Armed Neu- 
trality League. When Holland decided to follow 
suit, England declared war on her, and the insatiable 
vulture flung itself on to the Dutch colonies. Mahan 
writes : " The principal effect ... of the armed 
neutrality upon the war was to add the colonies and 
commerce of Holland to the prey of English cruisers. 
. . . The possessions of Holland fell everywhere^, 
except when saved by the French. ..." 

At first, and as long as the American War of In- 
dependence lasted, England showed herself disposed 
to agree to the proposals of the League of Armed 
Neutrality. But she refused to allow the Baltic 
Powers to participate in the peace negotiations, and 
subsequently declared: the demands of the League, 
that is to say in substance the conditions of the 
Peace of Utrecht, hold good for the contracting 
parties exclusively! In this way were the very 
Powers excluded, who had been the first to protest 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 55 

against the unjust treatment of neutral nations. It 
was also proclaimed in the House of Commons that 
the doctrine concerning the " effective blockade " the 
limitation of the term " contraband " to war supplies, 
and the right of the enemy's cargoes to sail under 
neutral flag, were not considered by the British Gov- 
ernment as in any way binding the latter for the 
future. Thus had the League of Armed Neutrality 
contributed to the development of a propaganda in 
favor of the recognition of certain principles of in- 
ternational maritime law; but it had achieved no 
practical result whatever. Ten years later the 
League itself was dissolved. England then succeeded 
in stirring up the Czaritza against revolutionary 
France. An agreement was drawn up, according to 
the terms of which a Russian fleet was assigned the 
task of preventing all communication between France 
and the neutral Scandinavian countries. 

All these are events, the importance of which may 
appear to the reader, by comparison with the epoch- 
making occurrences of that period, to be insufficient 
to warrant their recounting in detail here. But 
none the less are they important. It was certainly 
of more than passing importance that the attempt 
made by all the neutral Continental Powers to ally 
themselves against the English pirate, and to obtain 
in this way recognition of the right of neutrals — 
that this attempt should have been vain. Today the 
neutral countries are astonished and indignant at 
the matter-of-course manner in which Great Britain 



56 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

tramples all international law and custom under foot. 
They cannot understand that the only excuse alleged 
by her should be: it is unfortunately necessary that 
the neutrals be compelled to suffer, seeing that Ger- 
many, the chief enemy of Great Britain, must be 
crushed. About 130 years separate us from the 
period of the Armed Neutrality of 1780. Many 
international conferences have been held during these 
thirteen decades ; many agreements have been made 
concerning the laws of maritime warfare, and es- 
pecially concerning the right of neutral shipping in 
time of war. An immense quantity of books have 
been written on the subject; and in no other con- 
nection have we heard so much about the growing 
solidarity of civilised people being promoted by the 
increased means of communication. The nineteenth 
century, and the beginning of the twentieth, were 
periods in which international phrases were held in 
high honor. The European States — and not only 
the weaker ones — believed that a lot of printed 
paper was sufficient to suppress the Englishman's 
thieving instincts. They thought that it was enough 
to talk about rights, and duties, and solidarity ; and 
that the civilised British nation had accepted the 
principle of the existence of a supreme international 
law, equally operative in times of peace and war. 
The disappointment was hence all the greater — but 
those who shared it got what they deserved. How 
could any reasonable person believe that methods sys- 
tematically and successfully adopted during cen- 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 57 

turies — that the fundamental instincts of the Eng- 
lish nation and the underlying principles of English 
policy: that all this would suddenly be abandoned, 
annihilated, simply because the Continental States 
hoped that it would be so, and talked about the pos- 
sibility of it happening? In England people spoke 
a lot, and eloquently, about humanity and civilisa- 
tion. But for every English statesman and admiral 
it was self-evident that, in war, everything would re- 
main exactly as it always had been. It would be 
worth while to follow attentively the attitude adopted 
by England, throughout the centuries, not only to- 
wards the above-mentioned questions of maritime law, 
but towards a great many others, and to present 
the results of that inquiry to the astonished eyes of 
our readers. The latter would then perceive that, 
under altered forms, English aims and methods have 
remained invariably the same since the sixteenth cen- 
tury up till the present day. Maritime war is d_s- 
tined by Providence to serve the ends of the Chosen 
People; such wars are for them times of abundant 
harvest; and it is the duty of the English people, 
of its statesmen and admirals, to see that the Will 
of Providence is duly carried out. 

The harvests reaped by England as a result of her 
pirate wars had always been substantial. But the 
greatest harvest of all, the reaping of which should 
be decisive in the influence — economic and political 
— exerted by it on Britain's future evolution, was 
still to come. 



58 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

In 1789 the French Revolution broke violently out, 
on the occasion of the summoning of the States-Gen- 
eral in Paris. Two years later, Louis XVI and 
his family were brought back to the capital as pris- 
oners, their attempted flight having been intercepted. 
Hereupon the Continental Powers allied themselves 
against France with the avowed intention of " em- 
ploying every means in view of enabling the King of 
France to consolidate freely, and without let or 
hindrance, the foundations of the monarchy." On 
behalf of Great Britain, William Pitt the Younger 
declared that he declined to intervene in any way 
in the internal affairs of another State. 

The war against France commenced, and luck fa- 
vored the French arms ; after a short time the 
French troops entered the Austrian Netherlands, 
i. e. Belgium. At the same time the National Con- 
vention issued a decree, declaring the Scheldt to be 
henceforth open, in conformity with the law of na- 
ture. In order to enforce this decree without delay, 
and in such a manner as to remove all misunder- 
standings, a French fleet entered the Scheldt and 
blockaded Antwerp, already besieged by the army. 
This happened in November, 1792. Shortly after- 
wards the British Government declared that it would 
never see with indiff^erence a French occupation of 
the Netherlands ; and that it could not admit France's 
claim to act as general arbitress of the rights and 
liberties of Europe. On January 21st 1793 Louis 
XVI was guillotined; and a little later the French 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 59 

Ambassador in London received from the British 
Government a brief and very impolite notice, to the 
effect that he must leave London within a week. 
This was but the prelude to war between France and 
England. 

From the outset it was perfectly evident that the 
British Government would seek to wage this war in 
the name of one of those high-sounding principles, 
by means of which England has invariably sought 
to cloak her real designs. Nothing could have been 
more welcome to English Ministers than the death of 
Louis XVI. Full of noble indignation, with heav- 
ing breast and flashing eyes, the old pirate of the 
seas rose to arms. France, it was said, must re- 
ceive her punishment for the murder of the King and 
for the atrocities of the Revolution ; in view of the 
terrible crimes committed it was wholly impossible 
for England to remain disinterested, as Pitt had 
promised. England sacrifices all egotistical consid- 
erations, and makes the cause of monarchical Europe 
her own. To-day we are better able to judge the 
utterances of English statesmen and of the English 
press ; and we can imagine the superb virtuosity, 
the wonderful skill, with which the " Interests of Eu- 
rope " and the " atrocities of the Revolution " were 
exploited, in order to keep the Continental nations 
in the dark as to the real motives underlying Eng- 
land's intervention In the war. As a matter of fact, 
these motives were to be sought in the occupation of 
Belgium by French troops, and in the opening of the 



60 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

Scheldt. " It was not the execution of the King, 
but the conquest of Belgium, which drove England 
into war." The English historian Seeley goes still 
deeper into the question, when he says : " The fight 
for the acquisition of new markets for English goods 
at the expense of the growing French industry, was 
at once keener and more popular than the fight 
against the Revolution." Alexander von Peez and 
Paul Dehn, the authors of that excellent book Eng- 
land's Vorherrschaft aus der Zeit der Continent dl- 
sperre, comment as follows on Seeley's words : " Com- 
mercial jealousy was reinforced by political fear. 
France might be strengthened by the Revolution, 
even as England had been by her own revolutions 
in 1649 and 1689; and the former might, in conse- 
quence, become a very dangerous rival. The more 
prominent was the part played in the world by 
France, and the more did England consider herself 
injured and menaced. It was not the liberties of 
Europe that English statesmen regarded as threat- 
ened, but rather England's commercial and indus- 
trial monopoly." Every word of this statement is 
true. 

England now proceeded to set all Europe in mo- 
tion, in order to drive the French out of Belgium 
and to prevent the Belgian and Dutch sea-coast from 
falling into the hands of a rival naval Power. Brit- 
ish gold flowed once more in an uninterrupted stream 
into Europe, as it always did whenever there was a 
probability of doing a really successful business 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 61 

" deal " on a large scale. Revolutionary France 
had indeed done everything that was necessary to 
provide England with the most admirable pretexts ; 
for had it not abolished the Christian religion? Can 
we not imagine how the Englishman's pious heart 
must have swollen within him? For the sole 
purpose of protecting religion and morals Eng- 
land was only too happy to be able to give money ! 
Nothing characterises better the great comedy — 
the background of which Europe would seem not even 
yet to have perceived — than the literature of the 
Revolutionary and Napoleonic Era. The noble- 
heartedness of the free and pious Englishman is 
sung to every tune; the leitmotif is invariably fur- 
nished by the noble and generous nation which, albeit 
in safety on its island, endeavors with motherly so- 
licitude to diminish the sufferings of the Continental 
peoples, and which, animated by the marvellous 
spirit of self-sacrifice, fights indefatigably the good 
fight for religion, freedom, and order. 

It is necessary, now, to turn our attention for a 
short while to Belgium, and especially to the ques- 
tion of the Scheldt. The independence of the Nor- 
thern Netherlands had been recognised by the Treaty 
of Westphalia (1648) ; the latter thus gave legal 
sanction to Holland's total separation from the 
powerless German Empire — a separation that had 
existed de facto for a very long time. The Southern 
Netherlands, i. e. Belgium, remained Spanish prop- 
erty until 1713, when they were handed over by the 



62 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

Treaty of Utrecht to Austria. This state of af- 
fairs continued to exist until the outbreak of the 
wars between France and the European Coalition. 

The Treaty of Westphalia compelled Spain to give 
her consent to the closing of the Scheldt. The Dutch 
States-General had declared that, for Holland, this 
measure was one of vital importance ; for if Antwerp 
were to become a great and prosperous port, Am- 
sterdam and Rotterdam must necessarily suffer by 
it to a greater extent than Holland, with her small 
resources, could bear. Consequently was the Scheldt 
closed, Antwerp's trade was ruined, and a terrible 
blow was dealt at Belgium's prosperity. In real- 
ity, the closing of the Scheldt was due not so much 
to Dutch as to English influence. English states- 
men had known for centuries what the result would 
be if Antwerp were to fall into the hands of a great 
Power; and that England's trade would certainly 
derive no advantage — to say the least — from the 
existence of a prosperous port at the other side of 
the Channel, at the mouth of the Scheldt, close to the 
Rhine, the Meuse, and the Thames. A more con- 
venient maritime position, and better means of com- 
munication with an immense commercial hinterland, 
than those possessed by Antwerp, cannot be imag- 
ined ; in those days, when railroads did not exist, the 
situation was even superior to what it is to-day. 
The closing of the Scheldt was equivalent, under these 
circumstances, to the drying-up of an unusually rich 
source of trade and wealth, and even sea-power. 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 63 

The restless mind of the Emperor Joseph II under- 
stood this, and he decided to demand the re-open- 
ing of the river. Holland, backed up by England, 
resisted the demand; negotiations ensued, which 
lasted several years. Mahan remarks that " Again, 
in 1784, she (England) was forced to look with 
anxiety — less on account of Austria than of France 
— upon this raising of the question of the Scheldt. 
There was little cause to fear Austria becoming a 
great sea power now, when she had held the Nether- 
lands three-fourths of a century without becoming 
such ; but there was good reason to dread that the 
movements in progress might result in increasing 
her rival's sea power and influence — perhaps even 
her territory — in the Low Countries." Mahan ne- 
glects to tell us how England's jealousy of Austria 
manifested itself at that time — just as it had done 
on previous occasions. At the beginning of the 18th 
century, Austria had founded an East Indian trading 
company in Ostend. As Alexander von Peez tells us, 
the enterprise flourished, and thereby excited natu- 
rally the envy and suspicion of the English. " Eng- 
land created difficulties for the Emperor on the Rhine, 
and at the same time despatched envoys to the Great 
Mogul in India, who represented the Emperor as the 
principal enemy of Mohammedanism. For this pur- 
pose, certain highly-colored descriptions of the 
battles of Peterwardein and Belgrade were given. 
Finally in 1727 the company was dissolved, as a con- 
sequence of English threats." We would remark 



64 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

that certainly no other European Power could have 
been maltreated and exploited by England, as Aus- 
tria was ; but then the German Empire of that time 
was not a Great Power ! 

Emperor Joseph II soon gave up insisting on 
the opening of the Scheldt, for other things occu- 
pied his restless mind. France paid him an indem- 
nity; and her statesmen drew the conclusion that it 
was henceforth permissible for them to develop rela- 
tions of intimacy with Belgium, and to sign a mili- 
tary and naval convention with the latter. This 
policy of France was directed against England; it 
showed that the French statesmen understood the 
real motives by which Great Britain was actuated. 
It is possible that they were also of the opinion that, 
in the event of the Belgian question becoming acute, 
it would be of the greatest importance for France if 
Belgium were not on England's side. This was in 
1785; and during the following years English dip- 
lomacy did everything it could to win over Holland. 

Such was, then, the position of matters when, in 
1793, the attack of the European Powers on France 
resulted in the conquest of Belgium by French 
troops, and in the opening of the Scheldt. 

At first sight it would seem as if there were a cer- 
tain similarity between the attitude of England at 
that date, and her ultimatum to Germany in 1914. 
There is certainly some resemblance between the two 
attitudes, but there is also a fundamental difference 
— namely, that Belgium, in 1793, was Austrian ter- 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 65 

ritory ; and Austria was at war with France. France 
sent her troops into Belgium in order to conquer the 
latter; and she sent her fleet to open up a port of 
incomparable commercial value. The French Gov- 
ernment intended, from the beginning, to keep Bel- 
gium; in fact, the possession of the whole of the 
Netherlands had been for centuries one of the chief 
objects of the Kings of France — and such an ob- 
ject could not possibly be attained except by con- 
quest. Austria had, in conjunction with the other 
Continental Powers, attacked France, and the latter 
was in her right in invading Austrian territory. 
The French Government subsequently declared that 
its troops would evacuate Belgium ; but it is doubtful 
whether it would have permitted the Scheldt to be 
closed again. The occupation of Belgium, however, 
together with the opening up of the river, aff'orded 
England a^ sufficient reason to declare war on 
France. Only a short time before this, the British 
Government had manifested the firm intention of 
not intervening in the Continental war; its desire 
had merely been to inflict, in accordance with its tra- 
ditions, as much harm as possible on the shipping 
trade of belligerents and neutrals ; and if the occa- 
sion had presented itself, it would have gladly seized 
a colony or a naval station belonging to one of the 
nations at war. English statesmen had judged a 
policy of " watchful waiting " to be the best — es- 
pecially as the British fleet was at that time not quite 
equal to its task. But in those days of wooden 



66 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

ships, and in view of England's colossal resources, 
the defects of the navy could very soon be repaired. 

In 1914 the German Empire was attacked by Rus- 
sia and France. The German Government requested 
Belgium, an independent but neutralised country, 
to allow the German armies to march through 
Belgian territory; it gave, further, every necessary 
guarantee to the effect that no territorial acquisi- 
tions were intended; it pointed out that military ne- 
cessities alone dictated its request, and it promised 
compensation for all damage done. It likewise un- 
dertook to pay cash for all the provisions needed 
by its troops. Great Britain at once agitated the 
spectre of Belgian neutrality, and declared that the 
entry of German troops into Belgium must entail 
a declaration of war by the London Cabinet. A 
short time afterwards documents were found in 
Brussels, which showed that England, France, and 
Belgium had entered into a military agreement in 
1906 with a view to preparing a joint attack on 
Germany. Since that date, consequently, a neutral 
Belgium had de facto no longer existed.- Belgium — 
and this is the chief thing to be noted — had become 
a British basis of operations in one of the strate- 
gically most important regions of Europe. The 
British Government had already in advance ascribed 
to Belgium, in the carefully planned-out future war 
against Germany, a part similar to that played by 
Portugal during the Napoleonic wars. 

Some years ago Lord Curzon wrote that the ne- 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 67 

cessities of Indian defence urgently demanded the 
occupation, by British troops, of all the countries 
bordering the Indian frontier, as well as the con- 
quest of Arabia and the transformation of the Per- 
sian Gulf into an English lake ; for all such countries, 
and also the Persian Gulf, were in reality nothing but 
the natural fortifications of India. In the same way 
does England, as a matter of principle, regard all 
those European countries whose coasts are washed 
by the North Sea, the Channel, and the Atlantic, as 
" fortifications " of the British Isles — and as form- 
ing also England's commercial hinterland. 

In 1793, when the last great struggle between 
France and England began, Spain and the Nether- 
lands were both considered, in London, to be British 
" fortifications " ; Hanover being in British hands, 
it was also possible to consider Germany in the same 
light, whilst, in the North, Russia formed the back- 
ground to the Scandinavian States. When we con- 
sider the various political and military combina- 
tions between 1793 and 1816 and when we abandon 
the historical legends invented concerning them, we 
shall see that France was the champion of the true 
interests of the Continent. England, and her fol- 
lowing of European States, represented solely Brit- 
ish insular interests, whereas Russia changed sides 
like a weathercock. This judgment in nowise dimin- 
ishes the value of the German War of Liberation, but 
it certainly does call in question the traditional opin- 
ion to the effect that it was England who liberated 



68 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

Europe. The question as to whether England, as 
a matter of fact, contributed anything to that " lib- 
eration," remains an open one, even if it be admitted 
that she played an important part in causing the 
downfall of Napoleon. 

With joyful and untiring energy did the English 
statesmen of that epoch labor to prevent the flames 
of war being extinguished on the continent. As far 
as England's interests were concerned, Europe could 
never be laid waste sufficiently. England's partici- 
pation in the military operations was the traditional 
one. From the beginning, she considered the war 
as a maritime one (as far as she herself was con- 
cerned), poured oil on the flames in Europe, and paid 
subsidies — which were, indeed, more often promised 
than actually paid. Of course it is the Germans 
who have always spoken with the greatest admira- 
tion and gratitude of the " free nation's " superb 
struggle for the liberty of Europe against the Cor- 
sican oppressor! 

Admiral Mahan, whom we have often quoted, who 
is a passionate admirer of Great Britain, and w^ho 
only finds fault with his pets when they have not 
been unscrupulous enough to suit him — Admiral 
Mahan writes as follows about the part played by 
England in the Napoleonic wars : " For these rea- 
sons great operations on land, or a conspicuous share 
in the continental campaigns became, if not abso- 
lutely impossible to Great Britain, at least clearly 
unadvisable. It was economically wiser, for the pur- 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 69 

poses of the coalitions, that she should be controlling 
the sea, supporting the commerce of the world, mak- 
ing money and managing the finances, while other 
states, whose industries were exposed to the blast of 
war and who had not the same commercial aptitudes, 
did the fighting on land." The same author says in 
another place : " The thriving condition of the manu- 
factures and commerce of England, protected from 
the storm of war ravaging the Continent and of such 
vital importance to the general welfare of Europe, 
made it inexpedient to withdraw her people from the 
ranks of labor, at a time when the working classes 
of other nations were being drained for the armies." 
Mahan, the admirer of England, has here uncon- 
sciously defined the part which British statesmen so 
artfully ascribed to the Continent : no English work- 
man should be allowed to fight, for this would damage 
British industry. The Continental peoples were 
there to do the fighting ! Mahan tells us that, on 
the Continent, industry had been rendered impossible 
by the war; and he forgets that the latter was sys- 
tematically encouraged by England. From an eco- 
nomic point of view, an experience repeatedly made 
by England in former wars was confirmed: namely, 
that the money invested in the shape of subsidies was 
recouped with interest, and that the constantly in- 
creasing capital in the country paved the way for 
the flooding of the foreign markets with the cheap 
products of British industry. The last-mentioned 
phenomenon, again, permitted in later years of the 



70 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

humble attempts made elsewhere to develop a na- 
tional industry being nipped in the bud. The Con- 
tinent grew ever poorer, and England ever richer. 
With characteristic English hypocrisy could Pitt 
say, on the occasion of the reception of some expelled 
French priests : " The country that has welcomed 
those priests, is a country which Heaven has blessed. 
In the midst of the universal distress which has be- 
fallen other nations, Providence has permitted Great 
Britain to cover herself with glory and honor. Peace 
reigns in her palaces, her barns are full. All parts 
of the globe pay tribute to her industry, all the seas 
are marked with the sign of her victories." The 
same statesman said in 1801 : " If we compare this 
year of war with former years of peace, we shall, in 
the produce of our revenue, and in the extent of our 
commerce, behold a spectacle at once paradoxical, 
inexplicable and astonishing; we shall see, that, in 
spite of the alarm and agitation which has often pre- 
vailed in the course of this arduous contest ... we 
have increased our external and internal commerce 
to a higher pitch than ever it was before; and we 
may look to the present as the proudest year that has 
ever yet occurred for this country." 

Let us return to the year 1793. Trembling with 
indignation at the sight of the murder of the French 
sovereigns, and of the introduction of the religion 
of Reason ; deeply incensed by the proclamation of 
the Republic, and fearing for the liberties of Europe, 
England flung herself — on the trade and indus- 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 71 

try of France. The latter was to be isolated from 
the rest of the world. The British Government de- 
clared that it was necessary to starve the French 
nation, by preventing the importation of corn. 
When we consider that France in those days had a 
much smaller population than she has to-day, where- 
as her soil was just as fruitful then as now, it is 
difficult to suppose that the starvation plan was a 
serious one. Some sagacious Germans recognised 
afterwards, when it was too late, the truth of the 
matter: the starvation of France was a pretext, the 
object of which was to hold up to England's conti- 
nental allies a common aim to be realised, and to hide 
the real purpose of the English blockade from their 
view. The purpose in question was none other than 
the destruction of the entire industry of the Conti- 
nent, for England succeeded in persuading the ma- 
jority of European States to bind themselves over not 
to sell anything to France. In this way did they 
suppress their own export trade to that country; 
and the consequence was, that especially the German 
industry lost a valuable, nay indispensable, market. 
German industry was, in future, compelled to work 
at such a cost, that the cheaper English goods were 
able to flood the German market. We can observe 
here the time-honored English policy, which wages 
war only when large business profits are to be drawn 
from it. The more heterogeneous and complicated 
European political life grew, the more cunningly did 
England proceed. At the beginning of the last cen- 



72 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

tury she succeeded, by the simple means of a few 
high-sounding words, in inducing the whole of Europe 
to destroy the latter's own industry and the founda- 
tions of its own economic existence. 

Thus began that colossal commercial war, which, 
for England, was the end-purpose of the military 
and naval operations. The French Republic replied 
to the English blockade by the exclusion of all Eng- 
lish products, and by raising the French tariff. 
These protective measures proved very favorable to 
the industrial development of the country, and fur- 
ther efforts were made to stimulate such develop- 
ment by means of other economic reprisals. France 
applied to the neutral States for help in preventing 
the smuggling of English goods, all of which were 
confiscated. We need hardly say that the English 
did not remain inactive ; and that they did not hesi- 
tate to denounce the absolutely justifiable retalia- 
tory measures adopted by France, as an unheard-of 
crime against humanity. The English fleets exer- 
cised with greater rigor than ever their self-assumed 
duties as " policemen of the sea " ; that is to say, 
they stole as many French and neutral ships as they 
could get hold of. They further compelled all ships 
coming from oversea countries to call first at an Eng- 
lish port ; this measure later on during the era of the 
Continental blockade was rendered worse by the im- 
position of heavy port duties on such vessels. 

England's continental allies were chained hand and 
foot. On the one hand they had, as we already 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 73 

pointed out, bound themselves down at England's 
behest to destroy their own trade ; on the other hand, 
she completed, in the most friendly manner, the ruin 
of their shipping. As far as they possessed any 
maritime trade, they likewise suffered from the French 
reprisals, directed against England. The neutral 
countries suffered scarcely less ; they came at last, in 
1800, to recognise that they had no possible interest 
in sacrificing their commerce and industry merely to 
please England. The Northern States concluded 
a new alliance on the ruins of the old Neutrality 
League of 1780. The question once more arose of 
the liberty of goods under neutral flag, and of the 
right of search claimed by England. The neutral 
countries were of opinion that the right of search, 
in the case of trading vessels accompanied by war- 
ships, should be negatived on principle. Several 
brutal attacks on Swedish and Prussian trading 
ships, and another on a Swedish warship, formed the 
last straw that broke the camel's back. Under Rus- 
sia's leadership a new Armed Neutrality League was 
constituted in 1800. Its requests were both just and 
moderate: liberty of transport of all goods (outside 
contraband) under neutral flag; contraband to in- 
clude henceforth munitions of war only; prohibition 
of the so-called " right of search " in the case of 
trading vessels accompanied by warships; liberty of 
travel for neutral ships, which are to be allowed to 
sail freely to the ports of belligerent nations pro- 
vided no effective blockade exists. 



74j the vampire OF THE CONTINENT 

These just claims roused the English to intense 
furj. The Government declared them to be not 
only hostile, but preposterous, disgraceful, insulting 
to English " supremacy." England would under no 
circumstances sacrifice her " rights " to the Jacobin 
principles now fashionable, and which had been de- 
rived from France. 

The Neutrality League of 1800 insisted on its 
demands. Prussia, Denmark, and Sweden rallied 
around Russia, as leader of the neutral nations ; ener- 
getic efforts were made to keep the Baltic and North 
Seas open for neutral shipping, and to close the 
Baltic to British shipping, as long as England should 
not agree to the just demands of the neutral Powers. 
We must bear in mind that the trade with Northern 
and Eastern Europe was of immense importance for 
England at that time; the countries bordering the 
Baltic constituted a rich market for British indus- 
trial products, and it was from them that England 
obtained very large quantities of corn and timber. 
Already at that time was Great Britain dependent 
to a large extent on the importation of foodstuffs 
for the feeding of her population. 

The neutral Powers began their preparations for 
closing the entrance to the German rivers flowing 
into the North Sea and the Baltic. Hereupon Eng- 
land required Denmark to abandon the Neutrality 
League, and the claims put forward by the latter. 
Denmark was further required to open her ports 
without delay. The Danish Government refused to 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 75 

accept these demands; the result was the bombard- 
ment of Copenhagen by English warships, and an at- 
tack on the Danish fleet. Almost immediately before 
these events took place, the Emperor Paul, the lead- 
ing spirit of the whole Neutrality movement, was 
assassinated in St. Petersburg. The history of this 
celebrated murder has admittedly never been cleared 
up ; but when we consider it in the light of contem- 
porary political happenings, we may take it for 
granted that the assassins of the Czar, and also the 
immediate instigators of the crime, were in the pay 
of the British Government. The crime in question 
must be laid to the charge of the pious and free Eng- 
lish people — of the same nation which, in its vir- 
tuous indignation at the murder of Louis XVI, 
plunged Europe into a series of wars lasting 22 
years. The assassination of the Czar and the bom- 
bardment of Copenhagen took place at such ad- 
mirably calculated intervals, that the former could 
be made known in Copenhagen at the very moment 
when the British guns were opening their fire on the 
city. Denmark gave in, the Armed Neutrality of 
1800 was at an end, and Russia concluded a sep- 
arate agreement with Great Britain. The latter 
maintained all her claims with regard to neutral ship- 
ping intact. 

Once more had the Continent been outwitted by 
England — and precisely that part of the Continent, 
which, had its various component elements kept to- 
gether, would have constituted a by no means insig- 



76 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

nificant factor in politics. The League had come 
to grief owing to the double-faced attitude adopted 
by Russia — an attitude which the Empire of the 
Czars kept up during the whole of the Napoleonic 
wars. We cannot now discuss the numerous other 
aspects of the political situation at that time. But 
when we consider this situation impartially, we must 
come to the conclusion that an active co-operation 
of the nations forming the Armed Neutrality League 
with one another, together with a rapprochement 
between those nations and France, would have pro- 
duced the happiest results for Europe. And not 
only that. The break-up of the Armed Neutrality 
League of 1800 marks another step in the devel- 
opment of England's sea power to the detriment of 
Europe. Once more the determination of the " mis- 
tress of the sea " to consider and to treat Europe 
exclusively as a land offering facilities for commer- 
cial enterprise, manifested itself. English statesmen 
spared neither trouble nor money in stirring up new 
wars on the Continent, and in endeavoring to induce 
the European nations to adopt such economic meas- 
ures as might weaken them commercially and indus- 
trially. As a " reward " for their services, England 
coolly and unscrupulously destroyed the maritime 
trade of her friends — whether the latter were al- 
lies, or simply neutral. 

England's struggle against the Armed Neutrality 
was in every way an offensive one. This is not only 
true of the bombardment of Copenhagen, or of the 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 77 

naval expedition to the Baltic Sea ; but it holds good 
of the whole policy which led up to the acts in ques- 
tion. It is characteristic of the immense increase 
of England's strength, that she should have felt 
herself capable of pursuing such a policy. For it 
was one thing to send a fleet against Holland, or 
even against Spain ; and quite another to despatch 
a fleet through the North Sea into the Baltic, which 
was closed in by mighty naval Powers. The energy 
of desperation with which England, by means of her 
fleets and the murderers suborned by her, fought the 
Northern Powers with beak and claw, proves how 
highly she rated the danger threatening her from 
that quarter. 



CHAPTER VI 
THE GREAT HARVEST 
THE NAPOLEONIC WARS 

Geeman historians generally place the military 
aspects of the Napoleonic wars so prominently in 
the foreground, that the economic aspects of these 
wars are entirely overlooked. The Continental 
Blockade established by Napoleon is considered as 
the only event of economic importance. The truth 
is, however, that the military events were, to a much 
larger extent than is generally supposed, determined 
by economic causes. Peez and Dehn have repro- 
duced an utterance of Lord Granville's, which the lat- 
ter made in 1800 to the effect that Napoleon would 
derive from peace considerable advantages to the 
commerce, trade, and manufactures of the republic, 
whilst England would be left merely in its present 
situation. The noble Lord should have added that 
the future prospects for England's commerce and 
industry would have been considerably less rosy, had 
peace been maintained. Even Continental war — as 
we have seen again and again — filled English barns 
and purses alike. But as soon as peace returned, 

Europe recovered some of its strength, and en- 

78 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 79 

deavored to satisfy its own wants by means of its own 
efforts. 

France was immoral and criminal enough to flour- 
ish thanks to the protection afforded by her tariff! 
Napoleon did not fulfil England's hope, that France 
would conclude with her neighbor at the other side 
of the Channel a treaty of commerce profitable solely 
to the latter. In general, Napoleon did not mani- 
fest the intention of placing his country in the serv- 
ice of Albion. The English waxed terribly indignant 
at such impertinence; and the entire nation was 
agreed that the power and wealth of the immoral 
French people must under all circumstances be 
broken. The most sacred rights of the Chosen Peo- 
ple were menaced; and this implied, of course, that 
the liberties of Europe were jeopardised. Noble 
England wished to " save Europe from Napoleon." 
Needless to say she wanted no recompense — nay, 
she would even give of her own money for the pur- 
pose, in order to induce as many European na- 
tions as possible to participate in her glorious fight 
for liberty. The states which remained neutral 
sinned against Europe; and England was obviously 
fulfilling the behests of Providence in destroying* 
their shipping and their industry. The time was 
past, when there was any reason to fear " armed 
neutrality." The English fleets ruled the seas, and 
blockaded the French and Spanish coasts — in fact, 
they blockaded, directly or indirectly, the entire 
Western coast of Europe. In the Mediterranean, 



80 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

Malta had fallen into English hands. Some years 
previously, Bonaparte's Egyptian campaign had 
failed. Its failure was inevitable, because the French 
fleet was insufficient; consequently the Egyptian 
Army was isolated, after Nelson had destroyed the 
French squadron at Aboukir. The lack of success 
of the expedition to Egypt signified a defeat of Eu- 
rope at the hands of England. By way of the 
Pyramids, and with India as his goal, Bonaparte had 
intended dealing a heavy blow at Albion's power. 
He would have succeeded, if it had not been necessary 
for him to cross the Mediterranean. The matter 
would to-day be much easier for a Power placed di- 
rectly or indirectly in a position to march from 
Turkish territory into Egypt. The analogy is a 
remarkable and a timely one! In order to realise 
the plan, it would only be necessary for the Turks to 
march against Egypt through the desert ; or else an 
European Power, finding the road through the Bal- 
kan Peninsula open, would itself send troops to the 
Egyptian frontier via Turkey. If these conditions 
should one day be realised, England would have no 
arms wherewith to defend herself against the Con- 
tinent ; she would have no means wherewith to defend 
Egypt and India, or her world-power in general. 
She could fill the seas with her ships, she could bom- 
bard coasting towns and sink the enemy's vessels — 
but it would be of no avail. Sea power is in the long 
run impotent, when it is limited to the surface of the 
waters. 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 81 

Napoleon's unsuccessful Egyptian undertaking 
was not, at bottom, an attack on England, but a 
measure destined to safeguard France's position in 
the Mediterranean. Nature has given France far 
more rights in those waters than England. We 
must also remember that Great Britain, by a series 
of wars of aggression, during which the European 
nations had been forced to do her business for her, 
had driven France and French trade from India. 

Napoleon had failed in Egypt, but his determina- 
tion to protect the position and interests of France, 
at home and abroad, by all the means in his power, 
against Great Britain — this determination was 
stronger than ever. Never has a Continental mon- 
arch or statesman recognised so clearly and com- 
pletely the essence and the methods of English pol- 
icy, as Napoleon. He knew that, for England, trade 
is the beginning and end of everything. He saw 
through all the masks and disguises which she had 
always put on, from the very first day when she had 
begun to consider Europe exclusively as a territory 
to be exploited in England's interests. He knew 
well the strength of his mortal enemy, and he knew 
also that the French fleet could not, either as re- 
gards quantity or quality, compare with the British. 
England, on the other hand, was aware that Napo- 
leon was capable of becoming a terribly dangerous 
foe on the seas, if only she were to give him time. 
This is one of the chief reasons why she left him 
no leisure, why she stirred up one war after another 



82 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

against him, why she looked upon every day of peace 
as constituting an increased danger for herself. 
Napoleon was likewise acquainted with this fact; 
hence his efforts to establish peace in Europe. He 
had recognised in England the firebrand of the 
Western world; and he knew that she had system- 
atically carried on arson as a trade for the last 200 
years. Unlike the statesmen of other European 
Powers, and unlike a large number of Germans who, 
a hundred years later, fell from the clouds of dream- 
land when England declared war on us in 1914 — 
Napoleon was to be deceived by no phrases or atti- 
tudes. 

When England recommenced war in 1803, Napo- 
leon resolved to attack the hereditary enemy on his 
own soil — in other words, to cross the Channel with 
an army of invasion. The plan, as is well known, 
was frustrated by the battle of Trafalgar, when 
Nelson destroyed the allied fleets of France and 
Spain. Henceforth was France's chance of obtain- 
ing even a temporary command of the Channel gone. 
What remained of the French navy lay bottled up in 
the harbors of the Atlantic coast. We must not 
take Napoleon's boast, to the effect that " six hours' 
command of the sea would have made him master of 
the world," too seriously. But on the other hand, 
the possibility is not to be denied, that a landing 
might none the less have been rendered feasible by 
a happy combination of circumstances. The prob- 
lem of landing troops in large numbers on English 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 83 

soil was at that time much less complicated than it 
is to-day. The sailing ships which formed the navy 
of friend and foe alike, were at the mercy of wind 
and weather. Twenty-four hours without any wind 
might possess decisive importance for the success of 
a landing expedition. The speed of ships in those 
days was very small, and the range of their guns was 
insignificant by comparison with that of modern ar- 
tillery. Frigate could only fight against frigate at 
a very short distance, whereas a naval battle can to- 
day be fought while the vessels are a long way fron) 
each other. Mines and torpedoes, submarines and 
airships, were then unknown. When we take all 
the new methods of warfare into consideration, it 
is evident that the transporting of troops over the 
Channel is to-day infinitely more dangerous ; and, 
on the other hand, it is far more difficult to pro- 
tect the transports. In addition to this, we must 
recollect that large masses of troops would be re- 
quired, in order to permit of a successful landing 
developing into a fruitful military operation. The 
invading army must be sure of receiving reinforce- 
ments without interruption ; otherwise it would be 
infallibly doomed to early perdition in the hostile 
country. An uninterrupted supply of reinforce- 
ments presupposes lasting command of the Channel. 
Another factor has also to be borne in mind: the 
population of Great Britain has enormously in- 
creased during the last 110 years. The island is 
filled with munitions of all descriptions. A large 



84 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

number of men capable of bearing arms is available ; 
and even if the overwhelming majority of them have 
no military training, yet they are capable of shoul- 
dering a rifle, and they know every corner of their 
country. Movements of troops in England are easy 
to effect in this age of railroads, cables, and tele- 
phones ; and they can take place with a rapidity 
which would render the ulterior development even 
of a successful landing operation a far more difficult 
affair than it was in Napoleon's time. As matters 
stand to-day, there is no doubt that the population 
of England would form a single vast body of franc- 
tireurs, who would carry on the war against the in- 
vading army by all the means available, and to the 
bitter end. These necessarily brief reflections show 
us that a landing of troops in Great Britain is pos- 
sible only if the invading Power possess, in one way 
or another, eff*ective command of the sea. If this be 
not the case, then all plans of invasion are illusions 
— and illusions that are liable to become a source 
of danger. 

As to whether Napoleon really believed it pos- 
sible to realise his plan of invading England, after 
the French fleet had been destroyed at Trafalgar 
is an open question. Did he think it possible to re- 
build the navy, and to train the necessary crews.? 
We may consider it probable or improbable, as we 
like. But at all events the feasibility of the plan, 
from the military point of view, is incontestable. 

The battle of Trafalgar made England the uncon- 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 85 

tested mistress of the seas, and ensured for her that 
supremacy which she maintained up till 1914. When 
the epoch-making battle in Spanish waters, amidst 
the scenes of former British piratical activity, was 
decided, Great Britain had attained her object. 
She could now take everywhere what she wanted. 
No one was in a position to oppose her, with the 
single exception of the United States of America, her 
former colony. The importance of Trafalgar was 
first properly appreciated at the end of the nineteenth 
century, and it was then exaggerated by some writers. 
All historians are in agreement upon one point: 
namely, that Napoleon's chances of success were not 
destroyed in Russia or at Waterloo, but at Tra- 
falgar. This is none the less doubtful; for Tra- 
falgar did but give England the supremacy over the 
seas, and frustrate for the time being Napoleon's 
plan of invasion. If, during the German War of 
Liberation in 1813, there had been no Bliicher nor 
Gneisenau, no Biilow, nor Yorck, but only generals 
such as Schwarzenberg and Bernadotte, Napoleon 
would never have been defeated. If the winter of 
1812 had not been so abnormally cold, it is possible 
that the Russian campaign might have ended differ- 
ently. It is, consequently, not exact to regard the 
battle of Trafalgar as alone decisive in sealing the 
fate of Napoleon. Of course, England has never 
ceased to represent Nelson and Wellington as the 
saviors of Europe, which, it is said, they liberated 
from the " tyranny of the Corsican." The Conti- 



86 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

nent was saved once more by England, who had spent 
" blood and money " for the ideal of liberty, for the 
expulsion of the tyrant, and for the maintenance 
of the principles of Legitimacy. Even to-day there 
is no Englishman who does not consider it to be the 
sacred duty of every European to accept this view 
of the matter. 

Gourgaud and others tell us that Napoleon, at St. 
Helena, said that his greatest mistake had been to 
believe it possible to unite permanently all the nations 
of the Continent within a single empire. And here 
we have certainly the nucleus of the whole question. 
It was this mistake which caused Napoleon's down- 
fall. The forces inherent in every nation would 
certainly have asserted themselves, at one time or 
another, with elementary and irresistible violence, 
even without Trafalgar or the Peninsular War. It 
was the consequences of the same mistake which gave 
England her lasting victory. She would not have 
gained it, if Napoleon had not endeavored to per- 
manently crush and join together all the peoples of 
Europe. Let us try and represent to ourselves 
France within the boundaries traced for her by the 
Congress of Vienna, and governed by Napoleon ; 
after ten years of peace and systematic preparation, 
she would have been in a position to fight England 
on the seas with every prospect of success. A coun- 
try possessing the coast and the natural wealth of 
France would undoubtedly, if left in peace, have 
developed strength enough to make her equal, if 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 87 

not superior, to Great Britain. This truth is not 
often grasped at the present day; but Frederic the 
Great had recognised it when he said how foolish 
it was of Louis XIV to make of the Continent the 
center-point of his wars, instead of devoting all his 
resources to fighting England. The great Prussian 
King admitted that the methods of warfare adopted 
by the English were, from the standpoint of the lat- 
ter justifiable; the English concentrated their entire 
force on the sea, and entrusted the European na- 
tions with the task of weakening France on land. 
Napoleon would not have committed this error of 
Louis XIV, for he knew England too well. His 
own mistake was that of believing in the permanence 
of his conquests. Thanks to these conquests was 
England able to find States ever ready to fight for 
English trading interests. — What we have just said 
represents, of course, only the point of view of 
France a century ago. 

According to English writers and orators, Tra- 
falgar is supposed to have " saved Europe " ! To- 
day, after more than a hundred years have passed, 
it is possible to ask the question as to whether the 
consequences of Trafalgar for Europe have in reality 
been so salutary. If we take the view that Napo- 
leon's World Empire would, for the reasons indi- 
cated by Napoleon himself, have collapsed in any 
case one day or another; we can, in truth, not dis- 
cover a single consequence of Trafalgar which has 
been favorable for the Continent. Trafalgar it was 



88 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

which ensured for England the absolute supremacy 
on the seas. 

When Napoleon had been compelled to give up 
his plan of invading England, and to turn his at- 
tention to Austria, he knew that for the immediate 
future he had no means wherewith to fight the Island- 
ers directly. English historians, and also Mahan, 
have rightly recognised that everything henceforth 
undertaken by the Emperor against his chief enemy 
was in the nature of enterprises embarked on faute 
de mieu{C, This remark holds good of the Conti- 
nental Blockade instituted by the Berlin Decrees. 
The famous blockade is extremely interesting to con- 
sider, for it shows us clearly the war between Na- 
poleon and England in its true light — namely, as 
a war between England and the Continent. The 
fundamental idea on which the blockade was based, 
was derived from the measures taken by the French 
Republic at the end of the preceding century — 
measures, the object of which was to prevent the 
French market from being overflooded by English 
goods. These measures were destined as a counter- 
blast to those taken (long before the French Revo- 
lution) by England against enemies and neutrals 
alike. Such English blockades had been organised 
in every single maritime war waged by England; 
their object was, in part, to damage the trade of the 
adversary, but chiefly to benefit her own trade and 
shipping. The weapon had been found so useful, 
that the leaders of the Chosen People decided that 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 89 

they could not apply it often enough. With a view 
to extending its application still further, recourse 
was had to the " paper " blockades, wherever an 
effective blockade could not be maintained. 

The measures taken by the French Republic to- 
wards the close of the eighteenth century, and which 
had been confined to France alone, furnished Napo- 
leon with the idea of the colossal European blockade 
against English goods. A conditio sine qua non 
of the success of that blockade was that it should be 
applied quod ubique et quod omnibus — that not a 
link should be missing in the vast chain of prohibi- 
tion. The English were cunning enough to under- 
stand this at once; and they therefore directed all 
their efforts towards breaking as many links as 
possible. The whole of the European coasts, from 
the Baltic to Gibraltar and the Eastern Mediter- 
ranean, were declared to be closed; they were to 
form a single impenetrable wall against all English 
products. Napoleon employed also the Northern 
States for this purpose — especially Denmark, who 
possessed the key to the Belt and the Sound. There- 
upon an English squadron suddenly appeared before 
Copenhagen in 1807, and demanded of the absolutely 
neutral Danish State that it should surrender its 
fleet! England pretended that she wished to take 
the latter under her protection, and that she would 
give it back again later on. Denmark refused; the 
English promptly bombarded Copenhagen from the 
sea, and despatched also an army against the city. 



90 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

Denmark was forced to capitulate ; and the whole of 
her fleet, consisting of 83 ships, was taken over by 
the English Admiral, and brought to England. The 
ships were all of them without crews ; this proves be- 
yond a doubt that Denmark was attacked in the 
midst of peace, and had no intention of abandoning 
her neutrality. As to whether Napoleon would have 
induced Denmark to abandon her neutrality later 
on, is another question. He had just come to an 
agreement with Czar Alexander I at Tilsit, and had 
drawn up with him the outlines of a sort of general 
partition of Europe. According to this scheme, 
Denmark was to be granted a considerable increase 
of territory at the expense of Northern Germany, in 
the event of her allying herself with France. Thus 
it was intended to make an offer to Denmark ; but 
there was not the slightest evidence of any inten- 
tion on the part of the latter to give up her neutral- 
ity, much less of any hostile preparations. Den- 
mark was wholly defenceless when attacked by Eng- 
land, and this attack was nothing but a vile and 
dastardly act of brigandage. England, at the same 
time, stole Heligoland from the Danes, and the island 
became a basis of operations for the English smug- 
glers on the North Sea coast. 

The crime of Copenhagen was in so far profitable 
to Napoleon, that it obliged Russia to declare war 
on England. After the seizure of the Danish fleet, 
the Baltic was at the mercy of the English ; whereas 
up till now Russia and Denmark had been united by 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 91 

the bonds of a natural solidarity, resulting from their 
respective geographical positions. But Russia's ef- 
forts to repair the breach made in the wall erected 
against English importations, were vain. A second 
breach was made in the wall in the South. Napo- 
leon's unskilful and psychologically false treatment 
of the Spanish nation caused a guerilla war to break 
out in the Peninsula. This war has become cele- 
brated ; but what is less well known, is that Spanish 
blood was shed in order to further English interests. 
Spain was ruined, her soil devastated; and when 
Napoleon's power in the country was definitely 
broken, the latter found itself tied hand and foot to 
England, dependent on English industry and English 
financial assistance. At the very moment when Eng- 
land hypocritically pretended to be fighting in Spain 
" for Spain and Europe " — at that very moment 
she achieved the last, decisive victory over the land 
of Cervantes, and trampled the erstwhile greatest 
nation of the West under foot. The same fate had 
previously overtaken England's vassal Portugal. 

Napoleon's intentions were evident: Spain was 
for him but a means wherewith to fight England on 
the Continent. The Spanish and Portuguese coasts 
were to be closed to English products, as much as 
the Northern ones were. Napoleon likewise intended 
taking Gibraltar by means of a land attack. Viewed 
as a whole, the plan was at once a bold and a simple 
one: England was to be completely ostracised, and 
all possibility of selling anything to the Continent 



92 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

was to be withdrawn from her. Napoleon thought 
that the English would not be able to hold out for 
long under such circumstances — riots would break 
out, money would be scarce, etc. The immediate 
" preventive " measures taken by England against 
Denmark, Spain, and Portugal, showed that the Brit- 
ish Government by no means underestimated the 
possible consequences of the European blockade. 
The Continental nations, for Napoleon, were so many 
instruments to be used in fighting England; the lat- 
ter, on the other hand, used them as weapons against 
the French Emperor. But amidst all political 
changes, the Continent remained, for England, the 
territory to be exploited in the interests of her 
trade. The more the Continent was devastated and 
impoverished, the better it was for Albion ; for 
thereby was the market assured for British pro- 
ducers. And when British warships captured' or 
sunk the vessels of those States which were com- 
pelled reluctantly to obey Napoleon's orders — 
this was, of course, done in the interests of " Euro- 
pean freedom." 

The Franco-Russian friendship did not last long, 
after having reached its culminating point at the 
Congress of Erfurt in 1807. The two Emperors 
had progressed further with their scheme for the 
partition of Europe; but they had not, apparently, 
come to an agreement regarding Constantinople. 
Then came Talleyrand's betrayal of both Russia 
and England, When the separation of Russia and 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 93 

France finally took place, the Continental Blockade 
was at an end. None the less did England con- 
tinue her old system; and, in 1809, she managed to 
drive Austria-Hungary into a war which ended disas- 
trously, seeing that Austria was not ready, and had 
to stand up alone against France and Russia. It is 
possible that England may have feared a rapproche- 
ment between Austria and the two last-mentioned 
Powers; but it was in any case not creditable for 
the Austrian diplomatists, that they should have al- 
lowed themselves, after so many experiences, to be 
once more made the puppets of England. However, 
with the exception of Russia, no Continental Power 
had reason to be proud of its diplomatists ! 

In view of the war raging at the present day, it 
is not without interest to examine briefly the organisa- 
tion of the struggle between Napoleon and England, 
from the technical and military standpoint. 

Napoleon thought it possible to bring about the 
economic downfall of Great Britain ; he therefore for- 
bade all the countries under his sway or influence to 
do any trade with the latter. An army of French 
officials was placed all along the coasts — in fact, 
a main characteristic of the Continental Blockade 
was, that it existed solely on land, and not on the 
seas, which would have been the normal way of doing 
things. But England ruled the seas in the fullest 
sense of the word, and herein lay ab initio an im- 
portant source of weakness for the whole undertak- 
ing; for it was impossible to close up eff'ectively so 



94 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

long and irregular a coast. Napoleon himself ad- 
mitted that not the smallest fishing-boat could go 
out to sea, without the English capturing it. The 
British Government, bj way of reprisals, blockaded 
every port in which the Berlin Decrees were enforced. 
It further prohibited all neutral ships from trading 
with such ports ; at least neutral ships could only 
obtain permission to do so, if they had beforehand 
visited a British port, where they had to pay a 
heavy duty and to take a cargo of English goods on 
board. Consequently did every neutral ship which 
entered a Continental harbor " break " the French 
blockade. Napoleon replied by ordering the con- 
fiscation of all neutral vessels which thus complied 
with the English regulations. Later on another 
step in the same direction was taken, and all English 
goods found on the continent were seized. We need 
not dwell upon the consequences of all these measures 
for the sea trade. The French shipping trade, which 
had re-flourished in spite of all wars, disappeared 
completely with the exception of an insignificant 
coasting trade. France was cut off from her col- 
onies, and the latter were compelled to purchase all 
the goods and foodstuffs they needed from the United 
States. Owing to the interruption of all communi- 
cations with her colonies, France lost the lucrative 
colonial produce trade, which had been hers down 
to the time of the English blockade. 

The Continental blockade was not without creat- 
ing difficulties for England; in the first place, enor- 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 95 

mous quantities of unsaleable goods were accumu- 
lated in the country; on the other hand, the raw 
material, which Great Britain imported from Eu- 
rope, arrived only in extremely small quantities. 
Trade and industry suffered naturally, but the 
groans that could be heard were much louder than 
the sufferings in question were great. The English 
seized every opportunity to let themselves appear 
as the martyrs to the cause of Europe; whereas, in 
reality, the Continent was enduring martyrdom for 
the sake of England's greed. England was in the 
position of a rich and dishonest partner, who will- 
ingly risks a large sum in an enterprise, because 
his experience tells him that the business to be done, 
and which will ruin his associates, will bring him in 
colossal profits. The harvest is some little time in 
coming, and in the meantime matters do not always 
go smoothly ; so he groans and whines, in order to 
make believe that he is undergoing agony, and that 
he is honest. 

The English smuggling system was carried on on 
the very largest scale ; in addition to this, there came 
the port duties on neutral ships, of which we have 
already spoken. In passing, we may observe that 
these port duties imposed on neutral vessels show 
with particular clearness the measurelessly arbitrary 
methods of dealing with foreign trade, adopted by 
Great Britain. She even went farther still : the same 
ships, on returning to their home across the seas, 
were obliged to call at an English port and to submit 



96 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

to being searched. As a matter of fact, the poor 
neutral countries have not been treated any better 
during the present war. But this is by the way. 
The main consideration for England was, not to 
impede neutral shipping, but to destroy it. The 
effect of the English blockade on the German States, 
can best be understood if we give a few examples. 
Owing to the blockade of the Hanoverian coast and 
of the mouth of the Elbe, the Silesian linen industry 
was almost entirely destroyed. The linen could no 
longer be exported by way of Hamburg; and the 
exporting of it through other ports proved so ex- 
pensive, that foreign countries — especially Eng- 
land, America, and Spain — were obliged to seek a 
cheaper source of production. Prussia, who was 
entirely impotent, and whose statesmen were simple 
enough to suppose that the destruction of one of 
the leading industries of the country was not desired 
by England — Prussia protested in London against 
the closing of the Elbe. The same fate overtook 
Prussia's woollen export trade. Later on, after the 
fall of Napoleon, when the blockades disappeared and 
shipping became free again, Prussian industry found 
all its markets absorbed by English industry. In 
addition to all this, England was at that time the 
only Power possessing a trading fleet; with the re- 
sult that the European States had to pay her a 
further tribute in the shape of freight. The through 
transit from South to North Germany ceased alto- 
gether. In the whole of Germany the standard of 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 97 

living diminished, the State revenues sank in a truly 
disquieting manner, and everything was at a low 
level. The genius of Napoleon discovered, for 
France and the conquered countries, means whereby 
industry and commerce attained a surprising devel- 
opment in a short time. He also lessened, for these 
regions, the inevitable hardships inflicted by the 
blockade, by awarding so-called licences ; he sub- 
ventioned, in the most difficult days, industrial under- 
takings with cash, and in this way succeeded in creat- 
ing a prosperity which exerted its salutary influence 
on various branches of industry and trade in Ger- 
many. But precisely these branches were subse- 
quently ruined after the break-up of the Continental 
system and the fall of Napoleon; for then the vast 
quantities of goods accumulated in England over- 
flooded the European, and especially the German, 
markets, and effectively crushed all competition. 

English politicians of those days, and also later 
on, often raised their eyes piously to Heaven, and 
declared sanctimoniously that God had been exceed- 
ingly good to England ; for He had permitted her to 
become ever richer and richer, and had saved her 
from the fury of war which had devastated the un- 
fortunate continental countries. There was, cer- 
tainly, a certain depression among English business- 
men at times, during the Continental Blockade. 
This is comprehensible ; for all business-men are not 
equally far-sighted, neither are they always strong- 
minded. The tests to which they were put, were 



98 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

often hard; and if Napoleon had been in a position 
permanently and absolutely to close all the coasts of 
Europe, it may well be doubted whether England 
could have survived. The Continent, on the other 
hand, would have been able to do so, had Napoleon 
not abandoned his principle of ruining the States 
subjugated by him — and notably Prussia — for the 
benefit of France. 

The War of Liberation resulted in the yoke, which 
Napoleon had imposed on Europe, being thrown off. 
The European nations were once more free. In those 
days, when the national spirit, long held in check, 
rose again unfettered, they knew not that another 
yoke had been laid upon them, the weight of which 
they were soon destined to feel — and to feel more 
and more with each advancing year: namely, the 
yoke formed by Great Britain's industry, and by her 
uncontested command of the seas. The position of 
England, alike as an European and as a World 
Power, was indeed, at the time of the War of Libera- 
tion, an unique one. The Continent, to a large ex- 
tent a mere series of battlefields, had been completely 
ruined by loss of life, by economic impoverishment, 
by political anarchy. An extraordinary wave of 
idealism had permitted the poorest of all continental 
countries, Prussia, to accomplish the most difficult 
of all tasks. Prussia fought for liberty, and sacri- 
ficed everything for it. The land of the Chosen 
People had not been profaned by the presence of the 
enemy. England had suffered scarcely any loss of 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 99 

life during the Napoleonic wars, outside that of some 
hundreds of men in the naval battles. Very few 
English had fought on the Continent — but all the 
more Germans ! In Spain, England had made the 
Spaniards fight, besides the Germans. From a mili- 
tary point of view, in fact, England had done noth- 
ing at all. An expedition which she had despatched 
to Antwerp, failed miserably in its attempt to take 
the city. But even in this case, the British Govern- 
ment could truly say that everything necessary had 
been done to save the precious blood of Englishmen. 
Napoleon had not, from the outset, menaced the 
existence of England as an independent Power and 
as a seafaring nation. His attempts to effect a land- 
ing in the island, and subsequently to exhaust the 
resources of the English by means of the Continental 
Blockade, were purely defensive measures. Eng- 
land it was who began the attack on France, for rea- 
sons which — as is always the case with such Eng- 
lish attacks — were based on trading interests. It 
was in order to consolidate and develop her empire 
of the seas that England continually fanned the 
flames of war in Europe during twenty years — and 
at the end of that time she came proudly forward 
as the " liberator of Europe " ! The simple-minded 
Germans believed it; and there are some who still 
believe it to-day. Innumerable historical works 
prove this, and endeavor to make out that we owe 
an incalculable debt of thanks to England for having 
safeguarded the liberty of the nations. There is, in 



100 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

fact, a legend circulated in Germany, to the effect 
that the English of those days were entirely different 
to their descendants to-day. Other people, again, 
are of opinion that the " golden age " of liberty- 
loving Britain came to an end with the wars of the 
Revolution ; but they are firmly convinced that such 
an age existed prior to that date. The one view 
is as erroneous as the other. The methods and aims 
of the English nation have remained exactly the 
same, from the day when England, as an " island," 
was definitely differentiated from the " Continent " — 
when, in consequence, the egotistical interests of the 
former entered into conflict with the interests of 
Europe. 



CHAPTER VII 

ENGLAND DIGESTS HER BOOTY — THE 

CONTINENT GRADUALLY BECOMES 

UNRULY 

1815-1890 

England did not wish to leave the Continent any 
time to organise resistance to her commercial policy. 
Once Napoleon had been rendered harmless — in fact 
from the very moment when the battle of Waterloo 
developed into a great Prussian victory — we find 
her alongside of France. England restored to 
France the latter's King, who had resided on Eng- 
lish soil; she concluded the long-foreseen agreement 
with Talleyrand; and thus, in conjunction with Rus- 
sia, did she re-arrange the map of Europe. It was 
customary in Prussia in those days, and it is still 
customary to-day, to criticise the incapacity of the 
Prussian representatives at the Congress of Vienna, 
and to repeat the words of Bliicher : " the pen has 
gone and lost everything which the sword had won." 
In itself, the criticism is perfectly justified; but the 
responsibility for what took place at the Congress 

of Vienna cannot be ascribed solely to the Prussian 

101 



102 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

diplomatists. The fact of the matter was that the 
Great Powers wished neither a strong Prussia nor a 
strong Germany to arise. The letter written, be- 
fore the War of Liberation, by Baron Stein to the 
Earl of Munster (the British statesman), appears 
to us to-day almost touching in its simplicity : " My 
desire is to see Germany great and strong, so that 
she may regain her nationality and her independence, 
and maintain them in her position between France 
and Russia." But that was just what no single 
European Power desired, least of all England. 
For the latter knew that a strong, united Germany 
would constitute an important factor in the world's 
industry, and would no longer be at the mercy of 
English manufacturers and merchants. It must be 
noted, further, that the spectacle of another nation 
growing in strength and prosperity has always been 
extremely distasteful to the Englishman. At first 
the English diplomatists let the Sovereigns of Eu- 
rope amuse themselves with discussions concerning 
Legitimacy; for in this way could the nations be 
deceived as to their real interests. " Legitimacy " 
proved itself to be something excellently adapted to 
the interests of France — and of France only ; 
thanks to the wonderfully skilful use made of this 
new rallying-cry by Talleyrand, the land of Napo- 
leon was able, despite its defeat, to take up a rela- 
tively strong position. England, whilst pretending 
to be wholly disinterested, kept Malta and Gibraltar ; 
but she gave back a few colonies to France. All 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 103 

the more energetically did England insist upon the 
territories which border the North Sea and the Chan- 
nel being distributed in the manner most agreeable 
to her. Prussia was compelled to hand over her 
ancient province East Frisia to Hanover, the lat- 
ter being, we must remember, a sort of English fief 
on the Continent. Prussia was thus without a sin- 
gle port on the North Sea. England further suc- 
ceeded in persuading the Congress of Vienna, through 
the agency of the Duke of Wellington, to unite Hol- 
land and Belgium — under the pretext that Belgium, 
left to herself, would be crushed by France. The 
British Prince Regent hoped in this way to bring 
both countries entirely under England's influence. 
The fact that the Belgian provinces had formerly be- 
longed to the German Empire was, of course, wholly 
ignored; and much less still did it occur to anyone 
to revise the Treaty of Westphalia. Under Eng- 
land's influence — which remained, however, as unob- 
trusive as possible — the Congress succeeded in shut- 
ting Prussia off^ completely from the North Sea, 
albeit without Prussia Napoleon would never have 
been crushed. Prussia was placed, as a result of the 
decisions of the Congress, in so unfavorable a geo- 
graphical position, that she was nearly rent asunder 
into two separate parts ; the task of defending her 
frontiers in West and East was thus rendered as 
difiicult as could be. Denmark kept Schleswig-Hol- 
stein, and basked once more in the sun of England's 
favor ; for she henceforth held Prussia in check, see- 



104* THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

ing that she commanded the entry to the straits. 
Each of the States forming the German Staatenhund 
was granted the widest possible autonomy, in the 
well-founded belief that this was the most efficacious 
way of preventing the formation of a United Ger- 
many. 

For all these misfortunes, the Prussian diplomat- 
ists were less responsible than the European Powers 
under England's leadership, all of which were in- 
terested in preventing the development of a strong 
Prussia and of a united Germany. The shutting off 
of Prussia from the North Sea was a far-sighted and 
highly important manoeuvre on the part of England. 
The unification of Holland and Belgium under Eng- 
land's "guardianship" held out the prospect of still 
more important consequences. We have followed up 
the development of England's policy towards both 
those countries ever since the Dutch war of independ- 
ence against Spain ; and we have noted England's un- 
interrupted efforts to prevent them from getting on 
intimate terms with any of the seafaring Continental 
Powers, the reason being that the Dutch and Belgian 
coasts are washed by the North Sea and the Channel. 
In the Treaty of Vienna England tried to go another 
big step forward, and to convert the Independent 
United Netherlands into an outer fortification of the 
British Isles. It would be more correct to say that 
Belgium, and especially Antwerp, was to become a 
basis of operations on the Continental side of the 
Channel for a British invading force. Had this plan 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 105 

proved itself, in the course of time, susceptible of 
realisation, Great Britain would have had, not only 
as an insular but also as a continental Power, an 
incomparably strong position. Guardian of the 
United Netherlands, she would have been far less 
vulnerable than she was in the days of yore, when she 
conquered Northern France. For in the ciase of the 
Netherlands there would have been no question of 
conquest; the Netherlands would have become Eng- 
land's vassal, whilst retaining their independence. 

However friendly she might be with France, Eng- 
land took her precautions in the South of Europe. 
The Sardinian question was settled in accordance 
with English wishes, and the Republic of Genoa was 
united with the Kingdom. In this way did England 
succeed in erecting a barrier against France on the 
one hand, and against Austria on the other ; a bar- 
rier was likewise erected at the same time between 
France and Austria. Sardinia was obliged to rely 
always on British help, and the port of Genoa con- 
stituted the link between the Kingdom and Great 
Britain. In addition to all this, England's power 
in the Mediterranean was well assured by the posses- 
sion of Malta. 

Great Britain's world-position was greater, 
stronger, and more influential, than ever, after the 
Napoleonic wars. Her warships ruled the seas, and 
no other nation could even think of challenging Brit- 
ish maritime supremacy. The British fleet was re- 
garded as not only invincible, but as irresistible. Eu- 



106 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

rope had been persuaded that her " liberation " was 
due to that fleet. For the first time for many cen- 
turies, England had no " enemy " on the Continent, 
for the simple reason that she needed none. The 
weakened and exhausted Continent lay at the mercy 
of John Bull, and the latter did not hesitate to ex- 
ploit it. Especially was this the case with the Ger- 
man States, which were separated from each other 
by a wall of prohibitive tariffs, but whose markets 
were unreservedly open to foreign countries. France 
was clever and experienced enough to continue pro- 
tecting her industry even after the fall of Napoleon. 
In this way did the break-up of the Continental 
Blockade have a destructive effect on the industry of 
several German States, during many years ; all the 
more so as the English Government and English mer- 
chants alike had recourse, with their usual absence 
of scruples, to corruption and other dishonorable 
means for crushing German industrial competition 
ab ovo. The superstitious veneration which was en- 
tertained in Germany up till a comparatively recent 
date for all " genuinely English " products, dates 
back, for the main part, to that time. 

The era of great battles on the plains of Europe 
was over. But a time of political unrest in the in- 
terior of the various European States set in; this 
unrest reached its culminating point in the explo- 
sions of 1848. Such unrest was a source of par- 
ticular satisfaction to England, for it weakened and 
disorganised all her Continental rivals. 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 107 

Down to the time of the Crimean war (1855), the 
Eastern question remained veiled in considerable ob- 
scurity ; England, Russia, Turkey, France, and Aus- 
tria-Hungary played a curious and very complicated 
game of political and diplomatic chess. This game 
was still further complicated when Mehmed Ali ap- 
peared on the scene, and marched on Constantinople. 
It is impossible, within the limits of the present work, 
to dwell on those events. We must content ourselves 
with describing, in general terms, the part played by 
England. The latter did not wish to see any of the 
Continental Powers in possession of Constantinople; 
and she also wished to prevent by all means an alli- 
ance between the Porte and any of the Powers. It 
was from these two considerations that English pol- 
icy derived its principle of the " maintenance and 
independence " of Turkey. That policy, on the 
other hand, aimed at drawing Turkey as much as 
possible into the meshes of Great Britain's net; in 
this way Turkey could be conveniently played off 
against France or Russia, as the occasion required 
it. Being herself an insular Power, England needed 
the services of a Continental Power in all Eastern 
matters. According as time or circumstances dic- 
tated, Austria-Hungary or France was selected for 
this honor; but Russia was not disdained either if 
the occasion required it. During the period of 
Mehmed Ali's insurrection, English policy had three 
distinct aims in view: firstly, to prevent Mehmed Ali 
from capturing Constantinople ; secondly, to prevent 



108 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

the development — desired by France — of intimate 
relations between him and the French Government; 
thirdly, to prevent him concluding an alliance with 
the Sultan, and thus strengthening the Porte. Great 
Britain's anxiety concerning France was not un- 
founded; for the French had turned their eyes to- 
wards Egypt. In all these lengthy quarrels, the 
decisive word was spoken by the all-powerful British 
navy. The old English principle, according to 
which every opportunity should be seized upon in 
order to destroy all foreign fleets — whether the lat- 
ter were peaceful or hostile at the moment of destruc- 
tion did not matter: this principle proved extremely 
valuable. Its utility (from the English point of 
view) had been manifested in 1807, at the moment 
of the theft of the Danish fleet. Thus did it come 
about that, at the instigation of Great Britain, the 
Turkish fleet was destroyed " by mistake " at Nava- 
rino. An allied Anglo-Franco-Russian fleet sailed 
in 1824 to Navarino, where the Turkish fleet lay. 
An agreement had been made whereby negotiations 
should take place with the Turks, and it had further 
been resolved by the allied commanders not to open 
fire unless the Turks did so. Suddenly a shot was 
fired, and it has never yet been ascertained on which 
side; but the English declared that it was the Turks 
who had fired it. The result was the destruction, or 
rather the massacre, of the wholly unprepared Turk- 
ish fleet. The English Admiral had already received 
his instructions from London, but in the British 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 109 

Parliament all this was, of course, denied. The Eng- 
lish Prime Minister even gave utterance to the mem- 
orable words : " The destruction of the Turkish fleet 
was an untoward event." But " unfortunately " 
could things not be changed! Mehmed All's future 
fleet had been partly annihilated, partly captured 
by the English, whose ships, in turn, occupied with 
success the ports and harbors of Syria. 

Both at that time and also in later years, the lim- 
its of sea power have been very clearly demonstrated 
in the Near East. England was in a position, thanks 
to her navy, first of all to protect and coddle the 
new-born Kingdom of Greece, and subsequently to 
humiliate and bully it. This changeable attitude was 
kept up until King Otho's successor, who was re- 
lated to the English royal family, ascended the Greek 
throne. It was, again, her navy which permitted 
England to assume the role of " guardian " of grow- 
ing Italy; and this navy it was, also, which caused 
the cunning policy of Napoleon III in the Mediter- 
ranean to collapse. But the aspect of things 
changed, as soon as the center of gravity of the East- 
ern conflict was removed to the Continent. It then 
became necessary for England to buy a " continental 
sword " ; with the Power employed as such, Eng- 
land co-operated cheerfully until there was no fur- 
ther need of the former's services. The tool was 
then cast aside. 

Russia was, during the first half of the nineteenth 
century, fully aware of this fact, and pursued her 



110 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

policy of expansion accordingly. Her object, as 
usual, was Constantinople and the Dardanelles. Her 
ambitions led to the Crimean War, in which France 
and Italy were the auxiliaries of Great Britain. 
The Crimean War was badly managed, and the Eng- 
lish performances at sea were likewise lamentable; 
especially those of the Baltic squadron, to which was 
entrusted the task of attacking the Russian coasts 
and of destroying the Russian fleet. But the conse- 
quences of the Treaty of Paris proved that England 
alone had profited by the war. The antagonism be- 
tween France and Russia — antagonism which had 
been increased by the conflict — was destined to cost 
France dear not long afterwards. On the other 
hand, England had obtained, in conjunction with 
France, the neutralisation of the Black Sea and the 
closure of the Dardanelles and Bosphorus. Noth- 
ing shows better who was the real winner in this war, 
than the fact that the French were particularly anx- 
ious to conclude peace rapidly; whereas England, 
by raising perpetually new questions during the ne- 
gotiations in Paris, and by seeking up till the last 
moment to create complications, endeavored to pre- 
vent peace being concluded. 

Prussia had taken no part in the Crimean War, 
despite the strongest English pressure, despite 
threats and insults. Her abstention was one of the 
first great political acts of Bismarck. The latter 
recognised that it would have been folly for Prussia 
to show hostility to Russia in those days. 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 111 

The Prussian-German Customs' Union was, from 
the beginning, a thorn in the side of the English. Its 
foundation had been combatted by all possible means, 
and the efforts directed towards the protection of 
German industry had been denounced as an " un- 
friendly act " against England. Nothing was left 
undone, either by the British Government or by its 
accredited and unaccredited agents, in order to fight 
and to intrigue against the proposed Union in every 
German State. There are certainly few things which 
can be more legitimately included in the category of 
a country's " internal affairs," than the settlement 
of their mutual economic interests by the German 
States. But England had, in the most cunning man- 
ner, arranged, at the Congress of Vienna, for Ger- 
many to become an object of economic exploitation, 
and had imagined that matters would always remain 
thus. Knowing its own unassailable position, the 
British Government overdid things. Especially did 
the elevated English duties on wood and corn, which 
were arbitrarily modified in London, place German 
production and shipping in an ever more untenable 
situation ; on the other hand, British industry con- 
tinued to throttle German production, and to deprive 
the latter of its rightful profits. When Lord Pal- 
merston was at last ready to give way, and offered, 
amongst other things, a reduction of the English 
duties on wood, it was too late and there remained 
nothing for the noble lord to do but to submit and 
accept the fait accompli. 



112 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

Another event had, during the thirties, spoilt 
Great Britain's game: namely, the separation of 
Holland and Belgium, whose reunion England had 
been foremost in bringing about at Vienna. Bel- 
gium had separated herself from her Northern neigh- 
bor, for that which cannot be united cannot be held 
together. English policy recognised this fact, and 
quickly decided to "make as good a job of it" as 
possible. The European neutralisation of Belgium 
was the consequence. As the historian Louis Blanc 
wrote : " England kept the diplomatic scepter in 
her hand, and exploited the Belgian revolution to her 
own advantage." Belgium's neutrality was directed 
solely against France, because England was con- 
vinced that the French would seize the first oppor- 
tunity of bringing Belgium under their influence. 
In view of the state of affairs existing at the present 
moment, it is interesting to observe that the Treaty 
of Neutrality was concluded exclusively on account 
of France, whose ambitions it was meant to restrain. 
England hoped, by inducing the European Powers to 
participate, under her own leadership, in the guaran- 
tee of Belgian neutrality, to reserve for herself the 
possibility of organising, if need be, another coali- 
tion against France. De facto the newly created 
Kingdom of Belgium was entirely under British in- 
fluence ; it became England's advanced post on the 
Continent, the outer line of her fortifications. And 
no one in Europe could prevent this. 

During that period France was the " enemy " ; 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 113 

and a remarkable parallel can be traced between 
the events which then occurred, and those which have 
taken place within the last quarter of a century — 
events which we will consider later on. In the fifties 
Great Britain succeeded in utilising her " enemy " 
against Russia in the Crimean War; she induced 
France to sacrifice her troops and warships, and to 
weaken herself generally, for the sake of British in- 
terests. At the same time, both during that war and 
previously to it. Great Britain was everywhere busy 
working against France — and especially in Egypt. 
Shortly after the war she enticed France into the 
Mexican adventure, and then, as usual, retired from 
the scene herself, as soon as the stone had been set 
rolling. Great Britain's object was to create diffi- 
culties between France and the United States, by 
bringing the former into conflict with the Monroe 
Doctrine; she further wished to weaken France in 
Mexico, and to discredit Napoleon in France. The 
plan succeeded brilliantly. Within recent times it 
was intended to use the German Empire against Rus- 
sia in the same way as France was used sixty years 
ago. 

Great Britain found it impossible, during the sixth 
decade of the last century, to stem the flowing tide 
of German unity. The reasons for this were, firstly, 
the superiority of Bismarck's diplomacy and political 
genius; secondly, his fearless determination; and, 
thirdly, the fact that purely Continental interests 
were at stake. During that curious period of Eu- 



114 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

ropean political development, Bismarck was the only 
statesman whose will was strong and unbending, and 
who knew exactly what he wanted. 

The far-sightedness of English statesmen had rec- 
ognised, early already in the sixties, that the power 
of Napoleon was on the wane. They observed with 
satisfaction that the Emperor of the French was 
constantly obliged to seek the creation of new " stage 
effects," in order to maintain his prestige, and to 
consolidate the throne for his successor. At the 
same time Napoleon's policy never ceased to be a 
cause of uneasiness for England ; and the Suez Canal 
enterprise roused John Bull to violent indignation. 
How could a Continental Power dare to construct 
a canal joining up two seas, and thereby render a 
great British ocean highway valueless? We know 
how Disraeli's business talents subsequently succeeded 
in transforming the peril into a profit, after the 
canal had been built. The spendthrift Khedive, 
Ismael Pasha, was overburdened with debts ; Disraeli 
purchased all his Suez Canal shares, obtained later 
on possession of others, and thus placed the canal 
under the virtual control of England. Ever since 
the great insurrection of the Seapoys in 1857, the 
British Government had worked uninterruptedly to 
bind India to the Empire, and to organise her defence. 
The Suez Canal was a first-class instrument for this 
purpose. The Anglo-French rivalry in Egypt contin- 
ued, but the English influence there increased stead- 
ily. In the rest of the world, during the nineteenth 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 115 

century, England did and took what she wanted. If 
any territory, in any region whatsoever, appealed to 
the taste of some wandering English merchant or 
politician, he simply hoisted the British flag, and the 
matter was settled. The territory was henceforth 
British. 

About the end of the sixties it became perfectly 
evident to English statesmen, that Germany, under 
Bismarck's guidance, was advancing rapidly towards 
unification. At the eleventh hour British diplomacy 
tried hard to prevent this unification from taking 
place. In London the thread was spun of an elab- 
orate intrigue, which aimed at persuading the North 
German Union and France to come to an understand- 
ing regarding a reduction of armaments. The pro- 
posal met with considerable approbation in France, 
whereupon the latter became suddenly England's 
" friend." Weakness, aimlessness, discord, were be- 
coming ever more and more visible in France ; and 
these sorts of things have always been calculated to 
earn England's friendship. But the London Cabinet 
had no success in Berlin with its proposal. Bis- 
marck politely declined, and did not budge an inch. 
The English took similar steps in South Germany, 
where they did not content themselves with propos- 
ing a reduction of armaments, but also argued most 
persuasively that the union of the Southern German 
States with the Northern ones would be a crime 
against humanity which Europe could not possibly 
tolerate. The Southern States, further, would be 



116 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

doomed to certain perdition, i. e. be crushed under 
the Prussian boot. 

When the great war with France broke out, Eng- 
lish public opinion was at first considerably affected 
by Bismarck's revelations, to the effect that France 
had endeavored, before the war, to obtain his con- 
sent to the French annexation of Belgium. Soon 
afterwards English opinion became<«pronouncedly fa- 
vorable to France, and remained'so. Munitions were 
sold to the French, and everything else that the lat- 
ter wanted; the bombardment of Paris was bitterly 
criticised; the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine called 
forth a storm of curses. Gladstone intended pro- 
testing against it. But all this anti-German feeling 
remained confined within very modest limits, for Eng- 
land had other and very grave anxieties. The Rus- 
sian Government declared itself released from the 
obligations imposed by the Treaty of Paris, and it 
found herein the firm support of Bismarck. France 
was momentarily crushed, and Austria-Hungary was 
not capable of resisting Russia and Germany by 
herself. England thus found herself isolated, and 
was compelled to sacrifice an important article of 
the Treaty of Paris — namely, the neutralisation of 
the Black Sea. This was decided upon in a confer- 
ence held in London. In 1871 England found her- 
self powerless in regard to affairs on the Continent. 
There was " nothing to be done," and with that prac- 
tical sense which is so developed in the Englishman, 
the English Press did not shrink from an exhibition 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 117 

of grovelling hypocrisy. Towards the end of 1870 
an essay appeared in the Times, of which the con- 
clusion furnishes interesting reading to-daj: 

" I think that Bismarck will take as much of 
Alsace and Lorraine as he wishes, and that this is 
all the better for him, all the better for us, all the 
better for the whole world — except France, and in 
course of time better for her also. By means of 
his quiet and splendid measures, Herr von Bismarck 
intends realising one great object: the welfare of 
Germany and of the whole world. May the broad- 
minded, peaceful, intelligent, and earnest German 
nation then attain to unity, may Germany become 
the Queen of the Continent, instead of the light- 
hearted, ambitious, quarrelsome, and far too irritable 
France ! " 

But such sentiments as those expressed here, were 
not. In London, of long duration. 

In the course of the following years, England did 
not succeed in carrying out her traditional policy 
of a coalition organised against the Continental 
Power which happened for the time being to be the 
strongest: namely, Germany. England's antagon- 
ism to Russia increased continually. Austria-Hun- 
gary was absorbed by internal quarrels, and remained 
weak ; France had to recover from the war, and found 
herself to be politically dependent on Berlin. Brit- 
ish statesmanship deemed it, consequently, advisable 
to be on good terms with Bismarck, whose support 
England required for her policy in the Mediterranean. 



118 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

In the latter sea England had every interest in op- 
posing French expansion. Italy was used for the 
purpose; and the center of gravity of the English 
fleet was likewise transferred to the Mediterranean. 
The French fleet had remained intact during the war, 
and constituted an important factor of the balance 
of power. France and England soon came into con- 
flict: in Egypt, in the rest of North Africa, in the 
Far East. Italy varied her position during the sev- 
enties, she was not well led, she was unable to follow 
up an independent and consistent policy, and she 
lacked initiative. Not until 1881, when France 
snapped up Tunis under her very nose, did Italy 
join the Austro-German alliance. England herself 
drifted, precisely on account of her Mediterranean 
interests, towards the Triple Alliance ; and her rela- 
tions with the latter became more and more friendly 
at the beginning of the ninth decade. 

During the seventies Anglo-Russian relations grew 
very strained, and a rupture between the two coun- 
tries appeared imminent whilst the Russo-Turkish 
war was in progress. The British fleet was anchored 
before the Dardanelles. At Russia's demand, the 
Congress of Berlin met under the presidency of Bis- 
marck ; the Preliminary Peace of San Stefano was 
revised very much to Russia's disadvantage; and 
England emerged triumphant from the diplomatic 
struggle. Not only had she forced Russia to retreat, 
and strengthened the Balkan position of Austria- 
Hungary; but she had seized Cyprus and concluded 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 119 

a treaty with Turkey. It was at this time that Brit- 
ish diplomacy, under Disraeli's leadership, succeeded 
in sowing the first seeds of discord between Russia 
and Germany; those seeds were destined to bring 
forth fruit. That Russian distrust of Germany set 
in, which never disappeared again, but which, on the 
contrary, only grew stronger. Nevertheless did Bis- 
marck succeed, in 1884, in concluding a Neutrality 
Agreement between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and 
Russia. In England, the successful policy of the 
German Chancellor was praised; but, behind the 
scenes, everything possible was done with a view to 
checkmating and nullifying it. The triple entente 
between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia 
soon came to an end as a result of the tension be- 
tween Austria-Hungary and Russia in the Balkans ; 
in its stead Bismarck concluded the celebrated Re- 
insurance Treaty with Russia. This treaty was very 
distasteful to Great Britain, for it prevented the 
latter from playing off Germany against Russia. 
Russia's policy of expansion in Asia was a source 
of growing anxiety to England, who was used, in such 
cases, to rely on the assistance of a Continental 
Power. Such assistance could not now be obtained 
on account of Bismarck's alliances ; on the other 
hand, France was also an antagonist of England's, 
and sought to effect a rapprochement with Russia — 
albeit, until the end of the eighties, in vain. 

England did not feel at all well in her " splendid 
isolation " ; for the first time was she obliged to 



UO THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

recognise the fact that, without a Continental " serv- 
ant," her influence in Europe was but small, as soon 
as a strong will manifested itself here. To add to 
this, the Germans initiated a colonial policy which 
sorely vexed Her Britannic Majesty's Ministers. 
That policy, it is true, was a very modest one; but 
it made the English uneasy, just as the new German 
steamship lines did. But Bismarck pursued his aims 
unflinchingly, and informed the London Cabinet that 
Germany would be glad to march hand in hand with 
Great Britain in all matters of colonial policy and 
colonial conquests. If England did not desire this, 
then Germany would come to an understanding with 
France. 

The greatest pain and annoyance that Bismarck 
ever caused our English friends was in 1879, when 
he proceeded to establish a protective tariff for Ger- 
man industry. The protection of European markets 
against English industry is, according to English 
conceptions, the most hostile and outrageous act 
which a nation can possibly commit against the 
Chosen People. If England had found herself at 
that time in a more advantageous political position 
and if Bismarck had not been there, it is probable 
that Germany's conversion to Protectionism would 
have had much more important effects on Anglo- 
German relations than it did. We need only re- 
member the Anglo-French wars about a hundred 
years before, the origin of which is to be traced chiefly 
to disputes arising from similar causes. 



CHAPTER VIII 

ANGLO-GERMAN FRIENDSHIP AND ES- 
TRANGEMENT AFTER BISMARCK'S 
DEPARTURE 

1890-1895 

It is well known that the anxiety felt concerning 
alleged warlike intentions of Russia, and also the be- 
lief in such intentions, played a part in the events 
which led up to the fall of Prince Bismarck. It 
was greatly to England's interest that this belief 
should prevail in the governing circles of the German 
Empire ; for as soon as it existed, and became strong 
enough for political consequences to result from it, 
the end of the Reinsurance Treaty with Russia must 
necessarily be in sight. And this is what did in fact 
happen. When Caprivi took over the Chancellor- 
ship after Bismarck's fall, he had nothing more ur- 
gent to do than to refuse Russia's offer to renew the 
Reinsurance Treaty, with a haste which Bismarck 
qualified in the Hamburger Nachrichten as alto- 
gether excessive. No one could have been more de- 
lighted than Great Britain ! The experienced states- 
men on the banks of the Thames, who were so inti- 

121 



122 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

mately acquainted with all the laws which govern the 
grouping of European Powers, knew immediately 
that the abandonment of the treaty in question — 
especially in the form adopted — must mean the end 
of the former confidential relations between Germany 
and Russia. Great Britain knew, as well as Bis- 
marck did, that a partly written Agreement had al- 
ready existed for some years between France and 
Russia. Who could tell whether the entente between 
Russia and Germany, on the one hand, and France 
and Russia, on the other, might not lead to a Franco- 
German-Russian Alliance? For Great Britain, no 
spectre more uncanny than that of a co-operation — 
to say nothing of a real union — between the leading 
Continental Powers could possibly be conjured up. 
As long as Bismarck was there, English statesmen 
had found no opportunity of driving a wedge in be- 
tween Russia and Germany. But in 1890 they suc- 
ceeded with ease in doing so. The natural conse- 
quence of all this was to hasten and to consolidate 
the intimacy between France and Russia. Hence- 
forth neither the Court nor the Government in St. 
Petersburg offered the same determined resistance 
to the Pan-Slav agitation as they had formerly done. 
Bismarck had been able to say in days gone by that 
all Pan-Slav intrigues had but the weight of a 
feather by comparison with the authority with the 
Czar. All that was now at an end. By means of 
the Reinsurance Treaty Russia had insured herself 
against the attacks and the pressure of her worst 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 123 

enemy, which was Great Britain. Ever since the 
seventies, an Anglo-Russian war had been one of the 
probabilities of European politics ; for the points 
at which the two nations came into hostile contact 
were constantly increasing in size and number, alike 
in the Balkans and in Asia. It was therefore of the 
greatest importance for Russia that she should have, 
in case of war, a friendly neutral Germany on her 
Western frontier. The entente with Germany gave 
Russia the further assurance that, owing to the 
Austro-German alliance, Austria-Hungary would not 
allow herself to be induced by Great Britain to take 
part in a war against the Empire of the Czars. 

It will be seen therefore that, in the complicated 
situation created by the Reinsurance Treaty, Great 
Britain was at a distinct disadvantage. As long as 
the Treaty existed. Great Britain had not a single 
Continental Power at her disposal; and this ap- 
peared all the more dangerous to her on account of 
the growing colonial expansion of France, and in 
view of Russian expansion in the Near East and in 
Central Asia. England sought, under these circum- 
stances, to effect a close rapprochement with Ger- 
many. The Morning Post, the organ of the Eng- 
lish Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury, wrote at the 
beginning of the reign of the Emperor William II. : 
*' Neither England nor Germany are thinking of a 
war ; but it must appear every day more evident to 
both countries that, if war should indeed be forced 
upon them, they will have to stand or fall together. 



IM THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

No paper alliance is necessary for this." It was 
the time when the friendship of Germany was eagerly 
desired, and when the Reinsurance policy was at its 
last gasp. Great Britain's friendship seemed at first 
tolerable enough; but the situation grew dangerous 
in the very moment when, after the non-renewal of 
the Reinsurance Treaty, the Franco-Russian alli- 
ance commenced to manifest pronounced anti-German 
proclivities. 

Caprivi was deeply convinced of the necessity of 
an intimate friendship between Germany and Eng- 
land. He wished, consciously and intentionally, to 
place the German Empire under British guardian- 
ship, in all matters of maritime, commercial, and 
colonial policy. After the wooing of Germany by 
England had succeeded in its object of separating 
the former from Russia, England's tone towards her 
newly-acquired " friend " suddenly changed. The 
aim had been realised, the possibility of a great Con- 
tinental coalition had been suppressed, and no fur- 
ther wooing was necessary — seeing that Germany 
now appeared in a certain degree isolated. Already 
in 1891, a representative of the British Government 
took the opportunity of declaring that, in the event 
of a Franco-German war, England's national inter- 
ests would have first and foremost to be considered. 
Not without reason was public expression then given 
to such a self-evident truth ; in spite of all " friend- 
ship," in spite of " standing and falling together," 
the British Government deemed it useful to drive 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 125 

home an important truth: namely, that if war were 
to break out between France and Germany, England 
would take sides either for or against the latter — 
according to the circumstances. Already in 1890 
England had signed a Colonial Agreement with 
France ; and since that date she had more than once 
given it to be understood that she was perfectly will- 
ing to develop more intimate relations with the Re- 
public. To Turkey's demand that Egypt should, at 
long last, be evacuated, Lord Salisbury replied with 
the delightful euphemism : " We wish first of all to 
complete our work there." About the same time, the 
friendly relations of Germany and the Ottoman Em- 
pire commenced ; and the initial steps towards build- 
ing the future Bagdad railroad were taken. 

During the years of unhealthy Anglo-German 
" friendship," England considered Germany as a 
servant who owed her obedience. In 1890 the Zan- 
zibar Agreement was signed, and in 1893 a second 
Agreement was concluded; both were drawn up en- 
tirely from the standpoint of English interests. 
When Germany shortly afterwards entered into a 
Colonial Agreement with France — in which, be it 
said, the former once more got the worst part of the 
bargain, — England resented this ; her resentment in- 
creased when Germany and France both protested, 
a year later, against a convention concluded by Eng- 
land with the Congo State in violation of interna- 
tional treaties. About the same time the Prince of 
Wales undertook a journey to Russia; the British 



126 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

Government seized the opportunity of settling tem- 
porarily its quarrel with St. Petersburg concerning 
Central Asia ; and the English press was able to talk 
ironically about Germany's isolation. 

In 1894 the German Government sent two war- 
ships to Delagoa Bay, as a demonstration against 
English intrigues which threatened the independence 
of the Boer Republics. At that time the Boer news- 
paper Volks Stem wrote : " Up till now the Germans 
have let us settle our disputes with England by our- 
selves ; but at last it would seem that Berlin has 
recognised the erroneousness of this policy. In the 
name of the Boer people we tender our thanks to the 
German nation." This was, in truth, an historical 
moment ; for ever since then English statesmen turned 
their attention to two problems: firstly, the preven- 
tion of the development of closer relations between 
Germany and the South African Republics ; secondly, 
the destruction of the independence of the latter. 
We must once more remind our readers of the fact 
that England knew perfectly well that Germany was 
no longer backed up by Russia ; and that Germany 
was, consequently, isolated in all questions of world 
politics. The Triple Alliance played no part in 
these; just as little as Germany herself, did the 
Triple Alliance possess a naval force which England 
needed to pay even the slightest attention to. There- 
fore did the British Government draw the noose ever 
tighter round the neck of the South African Repub- 
lics, which it was determined to destroy by hook or 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 127 

by crook. Cecil Rhodes began his activity, created 
new territories for England all around the Boer 
States, and thus isolated the latter. In England, 
the enmity against Germany had increased so 
rapidly, that already in the summer of 1895, when 
the German Emperor visited the Queen of England, 
the English Government press received him with 
marked hostility. The London Standard published 
a much-noticed series of articles which, under the 
pretext of welcoming the Emperor, criticised him 
with bitter irony. 

Ever since the combined efforts of England and 
Austria-Hungary had checked Russia's expansion in 
the Balkans, the Government of St. Petersburg had 
pursued systematically and energetically its " for- 
ward " policy in the Far East. England felt her 
own interests in this region to be more and more 
menaced; and already a quarter of a century ago 
her experienced statesmen had recognised Japan as 
the Power capable of rendering invaluable service in 
the struggle against Russia. At the beginning of 
the nineties, England and Japan concluded a treaty 
of commerce and friendship. During their war with 
China in 1894-95, the Japanese were financed by 
English bankers. This war had the result of sep- 
arating Corea from China — Corea, which was the 
goal of Russian policy. China was also compelled 
to surrender the peninsula of Liaotung, with Port 
Arthur, to Japan. Here, again, England stood be- 
hind Japan, for the former knew that Russia had 



128 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

designs on Port Arthur. In view of the Japanese 
demands, Russia, Germany, and France decided to 
intervene together. The German view was that if 
Japan were to establish herself on the Asiatic Con- 
tinent, this would mean her definite ascendancy over 
China ; from an economic standpoint, Japan " would 
stand like a sentry at the entrance to the highways 
leading into China, and would command them." In 
addition to this, Germany had concluded a secret 
convention with Russia, the result of which was later 
on the leasing of the territory of Kiaotchow. 

Japan was forced to give way to the pressure of 
the three European Powers, and to surrender the 
peninsula of Liaotung. Russia, on the other hand, 
was conceded the right of constructing a branch of 
the Transsiberian railroad to Port Arthur; a few 
years later, the latter was given over to her on lease. 
Germany took Kiaotchow, and England Weihaiwei. 
At the time of the war between Japan and China, 
Germany was not yet regarded by England as an 
end, but only as a means: a means against Russia. 
England was unable to check Russia's expansion in 
the Far East ; for Russia was in the happy position 
of possessing an uninterrupted and direct line of 
communications by land with the Pacific Ocean. The 
sea power of Great Britain was impotent as regards 
the Transsiberian railroad. The still rudimentary 
sea power of Japan had shown itself to be as yet too 
weak to be used as a British battering-ram against 
Russian Imperialism in those regions. And it was 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 129 

natural and inevitable that France should be on the 
side of her Russian ally. There thus remained only 
the German Empire, as the one Power capable, in 
the eyes of England, of stemming Russia's expansion 
in the Far East. But Germany adopted a precisely 
contrary attitude and went over to the other side, for 
the reasons above indicated. Therefore were the 
English filled with indignation against the German 
Emperor, on account of what they termed his " lik- 
ing for political experiments." 

In South Africa, about the same time, the last act 
but one of the great drama took place. Dr. Jame- 
son and his band of filibusters made their disgraceful 
raid on the Transvaal. The Boers captured them, and 
the German Emperor despatched his famous tele- 
gram to President Kriiger. The English ought to 
have approved of this telegram, if the conscience of 
the Government and the nation had been, with re- 
gard to the Raid, as pure as was maintained. But 
such was not the case ; and there ensued an appalling 
outburst of fury against the Germans in general, 
and the Emperor in particular. 

The British Government proceeded immediately to 
get its fleet ready ; a part of this was sent to Delagoa 
Bay, and the rest was held in readiness in the home 
waters, just as if a war with Germany were contem- 
plated. We do not know the diplomatic communi- 
cations which took place at the time between Berlin 
and London. The German Government declared 
semi-officially that it was not true that any apologies 



130 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

had been offered on its behalf in London. And both 
the Government and the press confirmed the absolute 
unity of Kaiser and people. 

An English newspaper, on the occasion of this ten- 
sion between the two countries, asked ironically how 
Germany represented to herself a war with Great 
Britain. It was evident that, unless Germany 
worked systematically in harmony with other Con- 
tinental Powers, she could not possibly act, in any 
overseas question, in opposition to the British Gov- 
ernment, If she did, her failure was a foregone con- 
clusion; for there was no German navy. Joseph 
Chamberlain, who was then English Colonial Secre- 
tary, said at the time with characteristic frankness, 
it was the object of every British Government to 
maintain England's position as predominant Power 
in South Africa ; the aim of the Government was the 
union of all the South African States under the pro- 
tection of the British flag. The English Colonial 
Secretary thus declared, in so many words, that 
England would not rest until the Boer Republics 
had been deprived of their independence by one means 
or another: the old traditional British policy of 
brigandage! The main cause of England's greed 
was the existence of diamonds and gold in the terri- 
tory of the South African Republics ; then came sub- 
sequently the fear that the economic and colonial 
expansion of Germany might dry up the English 
waters in South Africa altogether. In conformity 
with English traditions, these real motives were con- 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 131 

cealed behind a cloak of pompous and hypocritical 
phrases about civilisation, culture, etc. After the 
Kriiger telegram the British Government had, by 
means of its naval demonstrations, put (symbol- 
ically) to the German Government the question of 
power ; and having done this, it considered ipso facto 
the South African policy of Germany as knocked on 
the head. Such was, indeed, the case. Bereft of a 
fleet, Germany could not pursue, with regard to 
England, any policy which raised the fatal question 
of power. 



CHAPTER IX 

"AND IF THOU WILT NOT BE 
MY SERVANT . . . /' 

FROM 1895 TILL THE ENTENTE CORDIALE 

The prosperity of German industry, of German 
trade, of German shipping, and the development of 
German capital, began, about the middle of the nine- 
ties, to attract the attention of an ever growing 
number of persons in Great Britain. Such " atten- 
tion " on the part of the English is, as we know, 
invariably tainted by animosity. From all oversea 
countries arrived reports from British consuls and 
commercial agents, telling of German competition 
in the foreign markets. Everywhere was the Ger- 
man merchant to be found, who was unusually active, 
who spoke all languages, and who endeavored most 
skilfully to find out the wants and wishes of the na- 
tive population, to which wants the manufactured 
goods were subsequently adapted. The immense 
growth of German industry had been rendered pos- 
sible by the Protectionist policy inaugurated by Bis- 
marck in 1879. The protection of those national 

forces which demanded to be developed, against for- 

132 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 133 

eign competition — especially against British indus- 
try, — was an imperative necessity. Bismarck had 
not let himself be caught in the English net so care- 
fully spread for Continental birds — i. e. by the 
" doctrine " of the blessing of free trade for German 
industry. As soon as it was protected, German in- 
dustry revealed a strength hitherto unsuspected; it 
could now thrive; and the more it could thrive, the 
more could it expand ; and thus was it ever more and 
more in a position to satisfy all requirements as to 
quality. After a very short time, the English jeers 
about German industrial products, which were 
scoffed at as being " cheap and nasty," produced no 
effect. Then came England's great and irremedial 
mistake. In order to protect English buyers against 
worthless German products, the British Government 
decided that all manufactured goods imported into 
Great Britain, Ireland, and the Colonies, should in 
future be marked : " Made in Germany." Thus did 
England, the champion of the magnificent ideal of 
Free Trade, decide. As is well known, the plan 
failed, and the German products, thanks to their 
good quality and their cheapness, obtained instead 
an unlooked-for success ; for the English buyer got 
into the habit of asking for German, instead of Eng- 
lish, goods. This failure, with the involuntary com- 
edy and the still more involuntary English irony 
attached to it, produced its repercussion in the whole 
world, and became an universal and well-deserved 
advertisement for German industry. The culminat- 



134 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

ing point of the German triumph was reached, when 
the German liner Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse entered 
the port of Southampton bearing the inscription 
" Made in Germany " in large letters. 

The English were not yet uneasy. The tremen- 
dous start which it had, enabled British industry to 
dominate its rival in all markets. The immense dif- 
ference between the means of production and dis- 
tribution, and especially between the capital, at the 
disposal of either country, was well known. This 
fact alone was sufficient to prevent any uneasiness 
cropping up. Lack of German capital, and an ex- 
treme and lasting tension of German credit, on the 
one hand ; immense English capital on the other : such 
was the position of affairs towards the close of the 
last century. 

But England is in the habit of carefully observing 
even the first rudimentary beginnings of everything 
calculated to damage the monopoly, which Provi- 
dence has granted her in the markets of this world. 
In 1896 the former Prime Minister, Lord Rosebery, 
declared in a public meeting that he attributed the 
disturbance of the friendly relations between Eng- 
land and Germany not only to the Transvaal ques- 
tion, but above all to the fact that Germany was 
beginning to catch up England in the economic race. 
He himself was quite surprised by the technical and 
commercial progress achieved by the Germans ; Ger- 
man competition in these spheres was a danger of 
the future. Germany possessed the most complete 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 135 

system of technical education, and was therefore the 
most dangerous rival of England; in fact, she even 
menaced British trade in India and Egypt. The 
same politician said later: " We are threatened by a 
terrible adversary, who wears us out as surely as the 
sea wears out the unprotected parts of a coast. I 
refer to Germany." 

Lord Rosebery was quite right. What he termed 
a disturbance of the friendly relations between Ger- 
many and England — namely, the outburst of mob 
fury in the latter country after the German Em- 
peror's telegram to President Kriiger — was due 
only in part to the South African complications. 
In fact, these certainly furnished the lesser motive, 
for Great Britain, being all-powerful at sea, had 
nothing to fear in the future from Germany in South 
Africa. The South African question was settled. 
But German commercial competition, and the devel- 
opment of German industry, were quite different mat- 
ters. They could be suppressed neither by a quod 
non of the British Government, nor by a clatter of 
swords. The principal motive of English unrest re- 
sided in the feeling, partly conscious and partly un- 
conscious, that German trade had risen from hum- 
ble origins to an astonishing height of prosperity by 
its own unaided efforts, and in spite of the most 
difficult conditions. In the course of our pilgrimage 
through the centuries which tell of the development 
of British piracy, we have seen that it is by no 
means the superior capacity or the originality of 



136 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

the English people which have permitted them to 
obtain possession of the markets of the world. An 
exceptionally favorable geographical position; the 
ability to inflict in the most cunning and unscrupu- 
lous manner damage on other nations, which were 
either exploited if possible by their best forces be- 
ing drawn by England into her own service, or which, 
if this was impossible, were paralysed in such a way 
that they destroyed themselves: such have been the 
factors of the development of British wealth and 
power. The incurable madness of the Continental 
Powers, which perpetually tore each other to pieces 
and exhausted their resources for the greater glory 
of the British grocer, did the rest. But never did 
the superior productivity, the superior intelligence, 
and the honest work, of the English, have a share 
in the building up of England's monopoly. Ger- 
many before the Thirty Years' War stood, in respect 
of such qualities, on a far higher level than Eng- 
land, as did also Italy at the time of the Renaissance, 
Holland in the seventeenth century, and France in 
the days of Colbert and of Napoleon I. And now, 
after the long interval that had elapsed since the 
War of Liberation, during which the monopoly of 
industry and trade had appeared to the English as 
if it were given them by Providence — after all these 
years, there suddenly arose the new German Empire. 
The latter was, it is true, as yet without many re- 
sources ; but it proved itself a hard-working and tal- 
ented competitor. Was it not inevitable that the 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 137 

noble British blood should boil? How could the 
German nation, which up till then had been poor and 
despised, dare to compete with British industry, not 
only in the German but even in the English market 

— nay, even in the world market? 

Statistics showed that, during the period 1873- 
1896, the number of German vessels had increased 
sixfold, and their tonnage more than tenfold. The 
German passenger service was unrivalled in the 
world; the North Sea fishing trade was formerly ex- 
clusively in English hands, and the German fishing 
fleet in those waters had now been increased twelve- 
fold since 1873. The oversea shipping trade of Ger- 
many had increased by more than 100%, whereas 
that of England had only increased by 35% — a 
clear proof that German trade was proceeding with 
giant strides to liberate itself from the English inter- 
mediary. Precisely this last-mentioned phenomenon 
caused unusual pain and annoyance to the " world's 
carrier," for it was equivalent to a severe blow in 
the face. The German consulates in oversea coun- 
tries increased in number every year. Every year 
also did the total trade of Germany grow, and of this 
trade much more than half was done with oversea 
countries. The amount of money invested in the 
latter, and the number of shipping lines and of ship- 
building yards, likewise augmented every year. 
Everywhere the English saw growing strength, and 
the spirit of enterprise, and perseverance, and skill 

— everywhere an indomitable resolution to produce 



138 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

only the best of everything. In 1896 the German 
flag was, for the first time, to be seen in Hamburg 
in superior numbers to the English. It was, on the 
one hand, a legitimate triumph for the Germans, and 
a sure sign that matters were progressing steadily; 
on the other hand, it brought home to them once 
more all the misery of the years gone by. Not until 
twenty-six years after the foundation of the neW 
German Empire had the numerical superiority of 
British ships in the greatest German harbor been 
done away with ! Up till then trade with German 
ports had been carried on principally under the 
British flag, and via British ports. Such was the 
fruit yielded by the " great harvest " reaped by 
England at the time of the war with Napoleon, when 
England, albeit at peace with the State of Hamburg, 
blockaded the mouth of the Elbe, and seized Ham- 
burgian ships wherever she could find them. Ham- 
burg now took peaceful revenge, and thereby pro- 
digiously excited the wrath of the benefactor of man- 
kind at the other side of the North Sea. 

In order that this period of Anglo-German rela- 
tions be rightly understood, it is impossible to insist 
too often on one cardinal fact: namely, the absence 
of a German navy right up till the commencement of 
the twentieth century. A few warships, it is true, 
existed, but these were small, and the majority of 
them were badly built. England rightly had no re- 
spect for such a fleet. As for Germany's world pol- 
icy, and the tendencies revealed by the latter, the 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 139 

British Government judged it solely in the light of 
a factor of possible alliances and groupings of Pow- 
ers. In other words, British statesmen were first 
and foremost concerned about the question: with 
which Powers will Germany seek to effect a rap- 
prochement, in order to obtain support for the aims 
pursued by her world policy? This was very nat- 
ural, seeing that every co-operation of Germany with 
another Power appeared to the Government of His 
Britannic Majesty as a menace and a danger. This 
Government believed also to have found here the key 
to a further conundrum — namely, how may German 
trade competition be guided into paths where its dan- 
ger to England shall be reduced to a minimum? The 
best solution to both questions appeared to the Lon- 
don Cabinet to lie in a rapprochement between Eng- 
land and Germany. It was known in London that 
Germany would create no difficulties in South Africa ; 
and this sufficed for the moment. When Russia took 
Port Arthur, and Germany acquired Kiaotchow, 
whilst England followed suit with Weihaiwei, the 
British Government considered it to be of great im- 
portance that Berlin should be informed of the for- 
mer's firm intention " not to call in question any 
of Germany's rights or interests in Shantung." The 
British Government was aware that Port Arthur had 
been for some years the goal of Russian policy in 
the Far East, and that the leasing of Kiaotchow to 
Germany could not possibly constitute a danger to 
English interests for a very long time to come. Or 



140 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

did other intentions prevail already in those days? 
We do not know. In any case must Port Arthur in 
Russian hands have appeared to British statesmen 
as distinctly dangerous ; for it was the symbol of 
Russian expansion in the Far East, and of an Im- 
perialist policy which could only be pursued at the 
expense of the Chinese Empire. The acquisition of 
Weihaiwei was in the nature of a counter-move di- 
rected against Russia, and not against Germany. 
Mr. Arthur Balfour, the future Prime Minister, in 
the course of a speech made at the time, gave expres- 
sion to the anxiety felt by the Government concern- 
ing the perilous surprises which the development of 
events might entail for the future of China. The 
Russian danger in the Far East had become im- 
mense, for Russia's expansion threatened the freedom 
of the Chinese market, which Great Britain had long 
since attributed to herself, and which she had sought 
to prepare by all the means in her power. A steady 
increase of the Russian fleet proceeded simultane- 
ously with the Russian advance on the Continent. 
Every new warship was despatched to the Far East ; 
Port Arthur became a naval port and a fortress, 
whereas Dalny, in the neighborhood, was made into 
a trading port. 

Thus it was the Russian danger which induced the 
British Government to seek a rapprochement with 
Germany. We may resume England's policy at 
that time in a sentence: if possible, let us make use 
of Germany against Russia. The former, and Aus- 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 141 

tria-Hungary with her, can by means of pressure — 
and, if necessary, by war — in Europe, loosen Rus- 
sia's hold on the Chinese Empire, and indirectly check 
the Russian advance in the Far East. This calcu- 
lation was, in itself a perfectly sound one. There is 
no doubt that an European war, which would have 
relieved England of her anxieties in the Far East, 
would at that time have been very welcome to the 
British Government. 

Prince Biilow kept his hands free, and the British 
wooing did not have the success which the late Joseph 
Chamberlain wished for; but the London Cabinet 
continued to hope that it would eventually attain 
its end. In the last years of the old century events 
succeeded each other rapidly. The Hispano-Amer- 
ican war broke out, and Spain lost the greater part 
of her remaining colonial possessions. All the other 
Powers remained neutral. England, however, de-* 
spite her friendship with Germany in the Far East, 
seized the opportunity to endeavor to sow in the 
United States the seeds of distrust against Ger- 
many. British diplomacy observed with irritation 
and anxiety the victorious campaign of the Ameri- 
cans, but did not venture to give public expression 
to its feelings. It contented itself with an effort 
to prevent the armed intervention of the United 
States in Cuba, by means of a joint action of the 
neutral Powers. Germany refused her co-operation ; 
and British diplomacy at once proceeded to put mat- 
ters in such a light that it should appear as if Ger- 



142 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

many, and not England, had proposed taking this 
step. The British cable companies did everything 
they could — and that was a great deal — to prevent 
all possibility of a German-American rapprochement 
ever being realised. 

The same year 1898 witnessed an event which was 
destined to become a most important turning-point 
in British modern history: namely, the so-called Fa- 
shoda affair. As is well known, this " incident " 
was created by a French expedition under the leader- 
ship of Colonel (then Captain) Marchand, which, 
setting out from the French Congo, had reached 
Fashoda, in the territory of the Upper Nile. The 
English considered any French advance towards the 
last-named region as constituting a grave danger 
for their own position in Egypt. Lord Kitchener, 
who had just won the battle of Omdurman, protested 
against the hoisting of the French flag at Fashoda. 
Captain Marchand declined to give way, and notified 
his Government of the incident. A great tension of 
Franco-British relations immediately followed, and 
England's language became very menacing. The 
Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in 
London, Mr. (now Lord) Curzon, had declared, a 
year before, at the time when Captain Marchand 
had just begun his expedition, that if the latter 
should enter a territory " in which our rights have 
already long been recognised, this would not only 
be an unexpected act, but the French Government 
must well know that it would be an unfriendly one, 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 143 

and considered as such in England." Such language 
was already clear enough; but much stronger lan- 
guage was resorted to when the event actually took 
place. The Naval Reserves were called in, the fleet 
was held ready, and the English Ministers, as is cus- 
tomary in all such cases, made speeches of a most 
menacing character. Their argument was the fol- 
lowing: England claims to rule over all territories 
having formerly belonged to Egypt ; she does so " on 
behalf of Egypt," which country has, at the cost of 
the heaviest sacrifices, been saved from anarchy and 
ruin. The claim, as will be seen, was a very elastic 
one. It amounted to this : wherever, within the lim- 
its of the African Continent, England chose to de- 
clare that a territory had once belonged to Egypt, 
such a territory was transferred by Divine right to 
the Chosen People. 

France was not prepared to defy Great Britain. 
In the spring of 1899 the latter concluded an Agree- 
ment with the French Government, by means of which 
she obtained all she wanted: namely, the recognition 
of her uncontested right to rule in all territories 
which the Egypt of yore had ever claimed, or ever 
could claim. England did not, of course, demand 
this in her own name, but in that of the " independent 
Egyptian State." Had France not given way, it 
would seem that England intended taking Tunis, with 
the naval port (then in construction) of Bizerta. 

" The disgrace of Fashoda " was, from that time 
on, a popular phrase in France, and the Germans be- 



144 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

lieved that they were now but a short distance re- 
moved from a Franco-German understanding. It 
was, however, a great mistake. The leading men in 
France were convinced that the Fashoda " incident " 
had quite another meaning. The French colonial 
plans, which had found their expression in the 
Marchand expedition, had definitely failed. Other 
colonial problems in Africa were still open. The 
French fleet would, in the future, be just as little 
in a position successfully to defy the British fleet as 
it had been in 1898. No effective help on sea could 
be expected from Russia, for the center of gravity 
of Russia's policy and maritime power lay in the Far 
East. It is true that France could maintain a re- 
spectable fleet in the Mediterranean, and thus keep up 
a certain equilibrium there. Her fleet was sufficient 
to prevent France being eliminated from any settle- 
ment' of Mediterranean questions. But the French 
statesmen were of opinion that France was hence- 
forth too weak to continue the old historical struggle 
with England on the seas and beyond them. Subse- 
quent reflection confirmed their first impression. 
Since July, 1898, M. Delcasse was Minister for For- 
eign Affairs, and M. Paul Cambon was French Am- 
bassador in London, where he is still to-day. M. 
Cambon, a leading political personality and a diplo- 
matist of the first order, saw that the moment had 
come for paving the way to an understanding with 
England. It is reported that M. Delcasse, on taking 
office, likewise said that he hoped not to leave the 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 145 

Ministry on the Quai d'Orsay until he had laid the 
foundations of a lasting entente with the latter Power. 
The French press could wax indignant about the dis- 
grace of Fashoda, it could demand peremptorily an 
increase of the navy, and threaten the hereditary foe, 
— this war of words left Great Britain wholly indif- 
ferent. The statesmen in London knew full well that 
a great turning-point in history had been reached; 
and they were content to wait quietly until the fruit 
should ripen. 

The Fashoda incident had, therefore, an entirely 
different meaning to the one which is still generally 
to-day attributed to it. It was not in spite of Fa- 
shoda that six years later the Franco-English entente 
was concluded, which has since developed into an 
alliance — but as a result of Fashoda! Without 
Fashoda there would have been no Entente Cordiale, 
no alliance! The old historical world-struggle be- 
tween France and England reached its definite end 
with the Fashoda incident. Even after 1870 it was 
still conceivable that France might endeavor, in con- 
junction with Continental Powers, to resume the an- 
cient struggle — especially in view of the burning 
questions arising out of the conflicting colonial aspi- 
rations of the two countries in Africa. The Fa- 
shoda incident put an end to all this. The efforts 
made during the preceding twenty years by states- 
men on both sides of the water, in view of arriving 
at an understanding between Paris and London, had 
been temporarily frustrated by Bismarck. But now, 



146 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

after the tree had been vigorously shaken at Fashoda, 
the fruit fell spontaneously. We may recall, in this 
connection, the words spoken by the French Ambas- 
sador in London in the days of the Kriiger telegram : 
" France has but one enemy," etc. 

After Fashoda the political situation in the Med- 
iterranean was suddenly changed. It was no acci- 
dent that France and Italy should, about the same 
time, have effected a rapprochement after long years 
of estrangement, and that they should have signed a 
colonial agreement. Crispi had inaugurated Italy's 
ambitious colonial policy, and had induced the Italian 
nation to make immense efforts in order to become 
a great Mediterranean Power. The defeat at Adua 
signified the end of this era ; instead of the ambitious 
foreign policy which aimed at placing Italy ahead 
of France in the Mediterranean, a new period now 
set in, characterised by timidity and excessive econ- 
omy in matters of national defence. The party 
which denounced Italy's adhesion to the Triple Alli- 
ance as the cause of ruinously expensive armaments 
constantly increased. We now know that English 
influence stood behind it, that English counsel and 
English intrigue prepared and organised the unfor- 
tunate Abyssinian adventure, partly in order to 
give British troops a pretext for intervening them- 
selves, partly because England had no use for a 
powerful Italy in the Mediterranean — much less so, 
in fact, since the weakness of France had become pal- 
pable. Formerly, when France was stronger, Eng- 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 147 

land had done all she could to embitter the quarrel 
between the two Latin nations ; but now it was the 
reverse. Thus it was that England, in 1898, be- 
stowed her blessing on the Franco-Italian rapproche- 
ment, by the mouth of Admiral Rawson, Commander- 
in-Chief of the British squadron, which was then 
visiting Genoa. England likewise succeeded, on the 
same occasion, in loosening the ropes that bound 
Italy to the Triple Alliance; Italy veered round in 
the direction of France and England, attracted as 
she was by the advantages offered her in North Af- 
rica by these two Powers. England was, from now 
on, no longer the Power whose fleet served to back 
up the Triple Alliance (which possessed no fleet) in 
the Mediterranean, where England had guaranteed 
the maintenance of the status quo against France. 
This policy of England's was no longer necessary, 
for France no longer dreamt of " kicking against the 
English pricks." Not the least of the causes which, 
in former days, induced Italy to join the Triple 
Alliance, was the former's rivalry with France. 

The reasons for the destruction of the Boer Re- 
publics were typically English. These Republics 
grew and prospered, and became stronger in every 
way; it was only natural that they should aspire 
to complete independence in their relations with 
other Powers, and that they should not consider 
themselves as bound by a forged treaty limiting their 
rights in this respect, and which had been forced on 
them by England some fifteen years previously. The 



148 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

British Government, and especially Chamberlain, un- 
derstood that a normal and natural evolution was 
here in progress, and that it could not be stopped. 
The only means of doing so remained the destruction 
of the independence of the Boer Republics. 

During the Boer War the anti-foreign movement 
known as the Boxer War, broke out in China. All 
the European Powers sent troops to the Far East, 
and a numerous international fleet was anchored in 
Chinese waters. The leitmotiv of British policy at 
that moment was furnished by the necessity of check- 
ing Russian expansion in the Chinese Empire and 
in Corea. Already during the Boxer troubles, Eng- 
land and Japan worked together on the most inti- 
mate terms; on the other hand, British diplomacy 
endeavored to play off Germany against Russia in 
China, and was very dissatisfied when it observed that 
the Germans intended acting in the Far East on their 
own account — chiefly in view of obtaining new open- 
ings for German trade. England was likewise dis- 
pleased with the relatively strong fleet which Ger- 
many had despatched to the Far East; she had, on 
the other hand, the consolation of seeing the Ger- 
man fleet in home waters reduced to two battleships. 

The only reasonable policy which Germany could 
possibly pursue during the Boer War, was one of ab- 
solute neutrality. When Russia attempted to take 
advantage of the situation, and to induce Germany 
to take part in a movement against England, Prince 
Billow put an end to all further negotiations by pro- 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 149 

posing, as a condition of the intervention of the 
European Powers, that they should agree to recog- 
nise the validity of the territorial status quo on the 
Continent. In this way, France would have had to 
accept the Treaty of Frankfort, and the idea was 
consequently abandoned. Russia was the only Power 
which could, at that time, by an advance towards the 
Indian frontier, have fought with success against 
Great Britain. 

Thus England remained undisturbed, and with 
her freedom of action unimpaired. Alone the busi- 
ness instinct of the United States skilfully took ad- 
vantage of the situation, and a new treaty concern- 
ing the future Panama Canal was concluded. The 
sovereignty of the United States over the Canal was 
thereby assured, and the latter withdrawn for ever 
from British control. 

During the Boer War, Lord Salisbury and Joseph 
Chamberlain continued their efforts to bring about 
an understanding with Germany. It was proposed 
to form, in conjunction with the United States, a 
German-Anglo-Saxon Alliance. Chamberlain de- 
clared that no farsighted British statesman could 
wish to see England permanently isolated from the 
Continent. Her quarrels with Germany had been 
mere trifles, and could not obscure the fact that, 
German and English interests were, to a large ex- 
tent, parallel ; and that the most natural alliance for 
England was an alliance with the German Empire. 
Some weeks later Prince Biilow replied that the Ger- 



150 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

man Government likewise desired to come to an un- 
derstanding, but that this would only be possible 
on the basis of absolute equality and mutual re- 
spect. Germany consequently must desire all the 
more sincerely that no incidents should crop up, sus- 
ceptible of creating difficulties between the two coun- 
tries. Such an " incident " was the confiscation, by 
the English, of German mail steamers during the 
South African war. 

Finally an agreement was made, on the basis of 
the status quo and of the open door in China. We 
would recall that Japan was also a party to this 
agreement. - The London Cabinet thought that it 
had thereby caught the German Empire in the 
meshes of the English net, seeing that Germany had 
bound herself over to protest in company with Great 
Britain and Japan against the Russian advance in 
the Far East — for that advance menaced the status 
quo and the open door alike. There followed the 
negotiations with Russia regarding the evacuation 
of Manchuria by the Russian troops. (The latter 
had occupied Manchuria during the Boxer War.) 
Russia promised the evacuation, but did not fulfil her 
promise. But Prince Billow declared in the Reichs- 
tag that the Anglo-German-Japanese Agreement did 
not concern Manchuria. The fate of the latter prov- 
ince was wholly immaterial to Germany. 

The attitude of Germany in the Manchurian 
question was the cause of the definite abandonment, 
by Great Britain, of her attempts at wooing. It is 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 151 

probable that the idea of a rapprochement with 
France originated in London simultaneously with 
the end of the Anglo-German flirt. The ground, as 
we have seen, was already prepared. France was 
only waiting, she had submitted herself to the inevit- 
able, and her clever diplomatists were skilfully and 
noiselessly working with a view to removing the last 
obstacles. 

The Anglo-Japanese Alliance was but the logical 
consequence of the situation which had been created 
in the Far East by the war between China and Japan, 
by the intervention of the European Continental 
Powers in 1895, and by the expansion of Russia. 
There can be no doubt that the British statesmen had 
long been at work. They had for a long time in- 
tended drawing Japan, as the strongest adversary of 
Russia, over to their side. On the other hand, the 
hope of avenging " the disgrace of Shimonoseki " had 
operated powerfully among the Japanese nation. 
England, with the one definite aim of checking Rus- 
sian expansion before her, had assisted the Japanese 
Government in every way — with money, credit, po- 
litical and naval advice. With the help of the 
Chinese war indemnity and of British loans, Japan, 
between 1895 and 1904, built up a small but excel- 
lent fleet, and organized her army according to the 
German pattern — whereby she was actively sec- 
onded by German officers, who were engaged as in- 
structors. These officers laid, during years of peace, 
the basis of the Japanese victories, which were due 



152 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

first and foremost to German military science. The 
German army manoeuvres also played their part, 
for they were frequently visited by studious and 
energetic Japanese officers. Thus did German dip- 
lomacy, on the one hand, and the German army, on 
the other, take diametrically opposite sides: namely, 
for Russia, and against her. Truly a deplorable 
spectacle ! 

The way in which the Russo-Japanese War was 
prepared, begun, and carried out, furnishes another 
typical example of British methods. England did 
not need to have recourse, in the case of Japan, to 
arguments — for Japan was already convinced. 
England only needed to pour oil on the fire, to add 
to her ally's strength where this was necessary, to 
take the political and diplomatic reins into her own 
hands — and then, when war had broken out, to 
point with unmistakable clearness to her all-power- 
ful fleet which ruled the seas. Under these circum- 
stances, who else could venture to say a word? 
Japan fought England's battles on sea and on land. 
The Russian fleet was annihilated at Tsushima and in 
the harbor of Port Arthur ; the Russian armies were 
driven with terrible loss from Liaotung and Man- 
churia. Port Arthur fell into the hands of the 
Japanese. The satisfaction in London would cer- 
tainly have been greater if the Japanese triumph had 
not been so overwhelming. England wished the Rus- 
sian fleet to be entirely destroyed, but she would also 
liked to have seen three-quarters of the Japanese 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 153 

fleet at the bottom of the sea. Instead of that Japan 
became, thanks to her navy, the predominant Power 
in the Far East. This solution was not, from the 
English point of view, an ideal one ; but it was not 
an unprofitable one either — or at any rate any dis- 
advantages it might have, did not seem likely to 
manifest themselves for a very long time to come. It 
was England who, cleverly screened behind the 
United States, prevented Japan from obtaining a 
war indemnity in Portsmouth. In this way did the 
two Anglo-Saxon nations inflict far greater damage 
on Japan, than was ever inflicted by the interven- 
tion of the Continental Powers in 1895. Japan's 
army and navy have thereby suff*ered considerably 
in their development up till the present day; the 
Japanese finances have ever since been in a critical 
condition; and the population as a whole has been 
reduced to a state of poverty resulting from over- 
taxation, such as no country has ever witnessed after 
a victorious war. About the same time, England 
caused the Alliance between herself and her impov- 
erished friend to be consolidated, and the duties re- 
sulting from it for either Power to be extended. On 
the whole, the danger in the Far East had been sup- 
pressed ; Japan had been bound to Great Britain and 
rendered economically dependent on the latter. 
Japan's resources were exhausted, and she had been 
placed in the impossibility of recovering her strength 
for many years to come. England sought, at the 
same time, to widen as much as possible the gulf, 



154 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

already then perceptible, between America and Japan. 
It was in England's interest that the gulf in question 
should not be bridged over — but, on the other hand, 
the quarrel must not be allowed to lead to war. The 
London Cabinet has had, nevertheless, considerable 
difficulty at times in preventing war from breaking 
out. 

Russia, on the other hand, had been immensely 
weakened by her defeats and by the revolution ; and 
for a long time she could undertake nothing. But 
England was desirous of obtaining still more. Even 
as Fashoda had proved the beginning of the Anglo- 
French entente; so also were Tsushima and Mukden 
destined to form the bridge between St. Petersburg 
and London. 



CHAPTER X 

DELENDA GERMANIA 

THE BEGINNING OF KING EDWARD'S REIGN 

When King Edward ascended the throne of Eng- 
land, he at once took decisive steps to bring the 
Boer War to an end. He likewise without delay set 
about drawing the consequences which arose from 
the Fashoda incident, and from the Anglo-French 
colonial agreement of 1899. He had evidently first 
of all carefully prepared the way, in the course of 
discussions with French and English diplomatists. 
In May 1903 King Edward went to Paris, and soon 
afterwards President Loubet, accompanied by M. 
Delcasse, returned the visit in London. In the 
autumn of the same year a treaty of arbitration 
was concluded between the two countries ; and on 
April 8th 1904, the celebrated Anglo-French con- 
vention was published. This convention formed the 
basis of the Entente Cordiale, which has existed since 
1905. The understanding between France and Eng- 
land was an event of the highest importance in the 
history of the world, for it marked the first great 
step taken on the road leading up to the war of 1914, 

155 



156 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

which England so carefully organised and prepared 
and set in motion. 

The convention of 1904* put an end, once and for 
all, to all the colonial quarrels between England and 
France. The work of liquidation, begun in 1899, 
was finished five years later. Bismarck had under- 
stood, by a skilful handling of African colonial prob- 
lems, how to prevent a rapprochement between the 
two Western Powers; especially had he understood 
the art of keeping the Egyptian question — that 
chief bone of contention — alive. Fourteen years 
after Bismarck's departure, the last seeds of dis- 
sension sowed by this policy of his were dug up and 
destroyed. With the exception of a few unimpor- 
tant reservations, France renounced all her claims to 
intervene in Egyptian' matters. England promised, 
partly in public, and partly in secret, agreements, 
to assist her French friends in obtaining Morocco. 
There is no need to go here into details. The most 
important point was the fact of the union of the 
two Western Powers. Two months only had passed 
since the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, when 
the Anglo-French Convention was published; En^;- 
land hereby showed the world that not only Japan, 
but also an European Power, was at her disposal — 
and this European Power was none other than the 
Ally of Japan's adversary. 

British statesmanship had not succeeded in re- 
ducing the German Empire to the position of Eng- 
land's humble servant. Consequently was Germany 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 157 

henceforth England's enemy; with the support, and 
sometimes under the leadership, of King Edward, 
the British Government was from this time forth to 
have recourse to all those methods of which expe- 
rience had shown the value, and which we have en- 
countered in the course of our historical survey in 
the present book. Already some years before the 
Anglo-French Convention, English influence could 
be observed at work in shaping the relations between 
France and Germany. French distrust of Germany, 
due to the alleged desire of conquest and oppression 
of the German Government, constantly increased; 
the co-operation of French and English in the Medit- 
erranean, with the aim of detaching Italy from the 
Triple Alliance, grot ever more and more active. 
Since 1903 the English hand was busy all over the 
political chessboard — especially in the Near East. 
Public opinion in Great Britain had already at- 
tained to such a pitch of hostility that, in the autumn 
of 1904, after Russia's Baltic fleet had sailed for the 
Far East, important English newspapers publicly 
declared that the moment had now come for placing 
Germany in front of the alternative of either ceasing 
the construction of her fleet, or of having the latter 
destroyed by British warships. In Germany such ar- 
ticles were not taken seriously ; it was said that they 
were the work of loud-mouthed jingoes, and without 
any importance. As a matter of fact, such an ulti- 
matum to Germany was, at that time, under serious 
consideration in London. 



158 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

The British Government had well chosen the time 
for the Anglo-French Convention. While Japan 
was fighting England's battles against Russia in the 
Far East, King Edward and his statesmen extended 
the hand of friendship to France — the ally of the 
same Russia whom Japan was fighting by England's 
order. France found herself before that date in 
an uncomfortable position. She could not help her 
ally, and she did not even venture to send warships 
in any considerable number to the Far East. On 
the one hand, France feared for her East Asiatic 
colonial possessions ; on the other, she feared Rus- 
sia's displeasure at the absence of all assistance from 
her ally. In addition to this, there was the risk 
of France finding herself isalated with regard to 
Germany. Under these circumstances England ap- 
peared as a savior, and as a prop to lean on. At 
the same time French diplomacy, always very skil- 
ful, seized the opportunity in order to prepare the 
way for a future rapprochement between Russia and 
England. The idea of such a rapprochement had 
already been entertained by Sir Edward Grey in 
1903. From the beginning. Sir Edward Grey had 
been an opponent of Chamberlain's policy of alli- 
ances. Thus did the efforts of French diplomacy 
meet with a favorable reception in London ; to Brit- 
ish statesmen a rapprochement with Russia now ap- 
peared just as desirable as the rapprochement with 
France had appeared after Fashoda. A weakened 
Russia was a very welcome friend indeed. 



CHAPTER XI 

EDWARD VII PREPARES THE HUMILIA- 
TION AND DESTRUCTION OF GERMANY 

1905-1908 

The first European crisis engendered by the new 
British policy broke out in 1905. On account of 
her geographical situation on the shores of the At- 
lantic and the Mediterranean, with her Northern 
coast bordering the Straits of Gibraltar, Morocco 
is a country of much importance ; England wished 
her now obedient vassal France to take possession 
of it. Spain, it is true, was to receive a strip of 
territory as hinterland to Ccuta, while Tangier 
was to remain " international." It was forbidden, 
in the interests of England, to fortify the coast near 
the Straits of Gibraltar. With these reservations 
Morocco was handed over by Great Britain to 
France. Germany was intentionally ignored, and 
the convention of 1904 was not even brought offi- 
cially to the knowledge of the German Government. 
The latter waited a whole year, but when the French 
Government commenced taking steps with a view to 
placing Morocco under its protectorate, Germany 

159 



160 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

protested; the final result of her protest was the 
resignation of M. Delcasse. The policy of this 
statesman had been to refuse systematically all Ger- 
man demands, even at the risk of war. He was 
convinced that Germany would retreat the moment 
she knew that Great Britain had decided to stand 
by France and to back up the latter energetically. 
The attitude of the Premier, M. Maurice Rouvier, 
and the declaration made by the Ministers of War 
and Marine to the effect that France was unpre- 
pared for war, brought about the departure of M. 
Delcasse quicker than England had expected it. 
The " inner " history of the crisis of 1905 is not yet 
fully known; but the course taken by events shows 
sufficiently clearly that the London Cabinet sub- 
sequently took the reins into its own hands. The 
attitude of the French Government, which had at 
first been conciliatory, changed within a very short 
time, and became either dilatory or hostile; and 
when the German Government made the great mis- 
take of proposing an international conference to set- 
tle the Moroccan question, Germany found herself 
alone in front of an overwhelming hostile majority. 
Here is not the place to discuss the aims which our 
Moroccan policy set itself in those days. The basis 
of Prince Billow's policy was invariably the open 
door, the principles of which he and his successors 
always consistently upheld. The German Govern- 
ment was further of opinion that war should not be 
waged on account of Morocco, unless a question of 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 161 

national honor were involved. Prince Biilow be- 
lieved this to be no longer the case after the depar- 
ture of M. Delcasse. On the other hand, the public 
and secret agreements between France and England 
aimed at creating a condition of affairs, the inevit- 
able result of which could not but be the destruc- 
tion alike of the open door, of the integrity of 
Morocco, and of the sovereignty of the Sultan. To 
speak, under these circumstances, of the open door, 
was to maintain a fiction in which no one could be- 
lieve. The fact that the German Government con- 
sistently kept up this fiction, necessarily awakened in 
England and France the impression that Germany 
only wished to " save her face " in the eyes of the 
world, and that she would on no account wage war. 
This was certainly the weakest spot in the armor 
of German diplomacy, at a moment when the latter 
was face to face with very resolute adversaries. For 
Great Britain was resolved to prove to the world 
that she and her new ally France were in absolute 
opposition to the German Empire; she wished fur- 
ther to prove that a war could only be prevented by 
a German retreat. All the demands of the German 
representatives at the Algeciras Conference were 
rejected, and not a single Power was to be found to 
back up Germany energetically. German's isola- 
tion was so complete, that she was thankful to Aus- 
tria-Hungary when the latter's representatives de- 
clared themselves ready, in one particularly knotty 
question, to build a bridge over which the Germans 



162 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

could effect an honorable retreat. The Algeciras 
Act, a very voluminous document, was from begin- 
ning to end a complete farce. Those who knew the 
conditions did not for a moment doubt that it could 
never be put into practice. The secret agreements 
between France and England were alone sufficient 
to deprive the Act of all value. As a matter of fact 
it was never enforced, and France never allowed her- 
self for one minute to be influenced — much less 
bound — by it. To a certain extent did the Confer- 
ence keep up appearances, as far as Germany was 
concerned ; but in reality the whole thing was a fail- 
ure from beginning to end. The new European 
policy of England had stood its first test. In 1905 
it was clear to all the nations of Europe, with the 
exception of the Germans, that henceforth interna- 
tional politics would be dominated by the Anglo- 
German rivalry. 

Before and during the Algeciras Conference, prep- 
arations were going on in view of an Anglo-Russian 
understanding. Russia had been vanquished in the 
Far East, and British diplomacy drew the logical 
conclusion from her defeat. The idea found active 
and enthusiastic supporters in France, who were also 
anxious to create a Triple Alliance directed against 
Germany. A number of opportunities for working 
together were furnished by the Algeciras Conference. 
On the other hand, Germany experienced a disagree- 
able surprise on seeing Russia, who had apparently 
entirely forgotten the invaluable services rendered 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 163 

her by Germany in her hour of need, combat all the 
latter's demands at the Conference. Italy had al- 
ready entered previously to the Conference into cer- 
tain obligations towards France and England; she 
had, in return, been granted by these Powers a 
right of priority in Tripoli. The Italians were also 
to be found at Algeciras among Germany's adver- 
saries ; the same was the case with nearly all the 
smaller European States, and with the United States 
of America. This was a phenomenon, the impor- 
tance of which completely overshadowed that of the 
Moroccan question taken by itself. With extraor- 
dinary skill, rapidity, and energy, England's states- 
men had understood how suddenly to represent the 
German Empire as the disturber of European peace, 
as a danger to France, and as jealous of Great 
Britain. 

A short time before England herself had been quite 
isolated, and she had only recently emerged from out 
of the grave crisis of the Boer War, and from out of 
the not less grave crisis in the Far East ; and yet, 
already in 1905, King Edward and his advisers had 
been able to come to an understanding with France 
and Russia. They had further succeeded in loos- 
ening the ties which bound Italy to the Triple Al- 
liance; and, quite apart from the question of a par- 
ticipation of Italy in a war, they had managed to 
induce her to place, at the Algeciras Conference, her 
diplomacy at the service of Germany's adversaries. 
Up till a few years previously, Germany had been 



164 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

on excellent terms with Spain. England spoke a 
few words behind the scenes, Spain was promised a 
piece of Morocco and was henceforth to be counted 
likewise among Germany's opponents. British di- 
plomacy had succeeded, during the Venezuela affair, 
in creating in the United States such intense bit- 
terness against Germany, that the Americans, al- 
beit the Morocco question did not concern them in 
the least, could not wax sufficiently indignant at the 
spectacle of German " illegalities " and "attempts 
to disturb the peace of the world." 

In the following year, 1906, the understanding be- 
tween England and Russia was effectively concluded. 
In 1907 it was sealed by the agreement concerning 
Persia and Central Asia. The co-operation of the 
two Powers in Oriental questions immediately com- 
menced. The Russian defeats at Tsushima and 
Mukden had produced the consequences desired by 
British statesmen. Incapable henceforth of contin- 
uing her policy of expansion in the Far East, bereft 
of nearly her entire fleet, weakened at home by the 
revolution, Russia now judged it to her interest to be 
on friendly terms with the very Power to whose sys- 
tematic intrigues and icy-cold calculations all the 
misfortunes of the Empire of the Czars were due. 
The Anglo-Russian Convention put an end to the 
anxiety hitherto felt in London concerning the pos- 
sibility of a Russian advance on India by way of 
Central Asia. Persia was divided into spheres of 
interest, between which a neutral sphere was created, 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 165 

and in this way peace was also assured here. Eng- 
land did, in fact, relinquish many of her hopes and 
ambitions in Persia, for the sake of arriving at an 
understanding — deemed to be of priceless value — 
with Russia. During the years which followed the 
war with Japan, British and French diplomacy were 
equally active in their efforts to turn Russia's at- 
tention towards the Balkans and Constantinople. 
The object was to create friction and dissension be- 
tween Russia and Germany, and between Russia and 
Austria-Hungary. England intended that here also 
Russia should fight her battles for her — this time 
in conjunction with the Balkan peoples — just as she 
had fought them in the Far East. 

King Edward and his Ministers attached partic- 
ular importance to the friendship of the smaller 
States, and England's " wooing " was done skilfully 
and systematically. Frequent journeys consolidated 
the personal ties of friendship uniting rulers and 
statesmen, and England was always able to promise 
either real or apparent advantages. With Greece 
and Italy the old relations of guardian to ward were 
resumed, as also with Spain. King Edward suc- 
ceeded in placing a British Princess on the Spanish 
throne. The reconstruction of the Spanish fleet was 
entrusted to English builders, and a Spanish loan 
was floated in London in order to cover expenses. 

England and France concluded with Spain a so- 
called Status Quo Agreement concerning the Medit- 
erranean, whereas nothing is known in regard to the 



166 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

conventions signed about the same time with Italy. 
It is, however, certain that they were likewise directed 
against Germany. In the North of Europe, British 
policy had been able to register a great success: 
namely, the division of the hitherto united Scandin- 
avian monarchy into the two kingdoms of Sweden 
and Norway. These two large countries, united 
under Swedish leadership, lived on friendly terms with 
the German Empire. This could not be allowed. 
With the help of all the means at her disposal for 
use in such cases, England set to work; the result 
being that the old Norwegian jealousy was rekin- 
dled, and a separation became inevitable. A Danish 
Prince with an English wife ascended the Norwegian 
throne, and ever since then Norway has stood under 
English influence. Everything was done with a view 
to inducing Denmark to come over to England's side. 
In 1905 a British fleet visited Esbjerg, and after- 
wards passed through the Skagerrack and Kattegat. 
It was during the time of the political tension caused 
by the Morocco difficulty, and the world had just 
learnt, through the so-called revelations of M. Del- 
casse, the plans of the British Government with re- 
gard to a landing in Jutland. The Danish royal 
family at that time would doubtless have been in- 
clined to draw the sword in a war against Germany ; 
but not the Danish nation — with the exception of 
some fanatics. At any rate, when the English fleet 
paid its visit to Esbjerg, a representative of the 
Danish Government took the opportunity of declar- 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 167 

ing that the latter's programme consisted in a single 
word: neutrality. He was thereby referring alike 
to the English crimes of 1800 and 1807, and to the 
war of 1864 with its consequences. We would ob- 
serve, by the way, that Denmark was already in 
1905 of great strategical importance to the English, 
on account of the question of the passage of the fleet, 
in time of war, through the Sound and the Great 
Belt. Ever since 1900 the English press had been 
full of articles concerning the passage through these 
waters in time of war; and every effort was made 
to persuade the Danish nation that, in the event of 
such a war, its place must be at the side of England. 
The journey of the English fleet through the Skager- 
rack and the Kattegat to the Baltic in 1905, was 
undertaken for reasons which cast a very clear light 
on the thoughts and intentions of British statesmen. 
During the Moroccan crisis the British Admiralty an- 
nounced, quite suddenly, that the North Sea Squad- 
ron would go to the Baltic for the purpose of prac- 
tising there. In the press comments on the matter, 
we find the view expressed that the Germans consid- 
ered the Baltic as a closed sea belonging to Germany, 
and that they considered the growing strength of 
their navy to give them the right to claim it. But 
England wished to show the whole world that she did 
not recognise such a claim, and that she was deter- 
mined to let the British fleet perform its practises in 
every sea which it should please the Admiralty to 
select. So far the press. The voyage of the Brit- 



168 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

ish fleet was therefore nothing else but a threat — 
and a wholly unjustifiable one. Neither the Ger- 
man Government nor the German people had ever 
entertained so foolish a thought as that of regard- 
ing the Baltic as a closed sea. In our days a sea 
can only be shut from outside; and to close the 
Baltic in times of peace to the fleet of another nation 
would be a silly and meaningless act, even if the Ger- 
man navy were capable of enforcing such an order. 
The journey of the British fleet, which was extended 
so as to include visits to a number of German Baltic 
ports, was, as we have said, nothing but a well calcu- 
lated and demonstrative threat. It was destined to 
prove to all the Northern States that, if it pleased 
the British fleet to penetrate into the Baltic and to 
visit German ports there, nothing could stop it; the 
German navy would be but an insignificant hindrance 
in time of war. Therefore, o ye Northern States, 
do not venture to stand by Germany, or it will be 
the worse for you ! 

In 1905 and 1906 England concluded definite 
agreements with Belgium in case an European war 
should break out. The agreements were completed 
by other conventions between France and Belgium, 
and between France and England. Belgium, as is 
well known, was a neutral State. Already at this 
time England knew that, in the event of a war between 
France and Germany, the former, relying on the 
strength of the line of fortresses on the Franco-Ger- 
man frontier, would march through Belgium with a 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 169 

view to invading Prussia. But England had a poor 
opinion of French organisation, and of the French 
army as a whole, and judged it necessary to take 
steps in the matter herself. In the military con- 
ventions with Belgium, an Anglo-Franco-Belgian 
plan of campaign against Germany was worked out 
in all its details. England desired to land an expe- 
ditionary corps, and wished under all circumstances 
to make Antwerp a basis of supplies : all this has been 
proved by documentary evidence already published. 
When we analyse these events it appears incontest- 
able that, quite apart from purely military consid- 
erations, England intended, by means of her co-op- 
eration with Belgium, to lay hands on Antwerp. 
English policy, as usual, was playing a double game. 
According to the way in which events shaped them- 
selves, the British expeditionary troops could either 
march directly against Germany, or they could re- 
main on Belgian soil, and occupy Antwerp or other 
towns on the coast. In this way, Belgium would have 
developed from a simple outer fortification into Eng- 
land's Continental basis of operations, and England 
would have opened, by virtue of her own power, the 
mouth of the Scheldt at Holland's expense. Belgium 
would have become a second Portugal, and England 
would have had the free use of all her harbors, etc. 
The military conventions drawn up by England 
with Belgium in 1905-06 pursued very ambitious 
aims — political, naval, and military. It was at 
this time that Belgium forfeited her neutrality and 



170 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

became the obedient ally of England, and also of 
England's chief servant France. 

The British Government endeavored to go still 
farther, and to form a great anti-German union of 
the neutral States. With this aim in view, every 
effort was made in order to bring about an alliance 
between Holland and Belgium. The plan was frus- 
trated by Holland's refusal. Both in peace and 
war the Dutch Government has maintained the same 
strict and honorable neutrality, however difficult it 
may have been at times to persist in such an atti- 
tude. By the formation of a Union of the Neutral 
States, Great Britain would have created a union 
of vassals, which would have appeared on the scene 
as soon as the war against Germany had broken 
out. The existence of such a plan is likewise proved 
by documentary evidence, discovered since the out- 
break of hostilities. All this goes to show how ex- 
tensive were the preparations made, in view either 
of holding the German Empire in check by inspiring 
it with fear — or else, if need be, of waging the war 
so that it must result in the total destruction of 
Germany alike as a trading Power, a political Con- 
tinental Power, and a maritime Power. 



CHAPTER XII 

THE INCENDIARY AT WORK 

THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE GERMAN NAVY 

No one in England felt in the least uneasy about 
the German navy. Nothing but contempt was en- 
tertained for the " Emperor's toy." It was com- 
pared to a crow, which had adorned itself with a 
parrot's feathers ; and everywhere proofs were ad- 
duced of the superiority of the English fleet, alike 
as regards quantity and quality. Such were the 
views held in well-informed circles. But none the 
less was the German Navy, even when still very small, 
held up as a terrible instrument of war. Already 
in the first years of the new century the following 
argument was frequently to be met with in England, 
whence it was transmitted to the whole world: Ger- 
many, and more especially the German Emperor, is 
planning to attack and destroy the British fleet, 
after which it is intended to send across the North 
Sea an army, that shall land on the holy coasts of 
Great Britain and reduce the liberty-loving Britons 
to slavery. It will suffice if we mention these absurd 
stories; it is not necessary to refute them here in 

171 



172 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

detail, but we must lay stress on the fact that they 
were never believed for a moment by a single serious 
politician or naval expert in Great Britain. Such 
stories were invented and circulated, simply because 
they were considered to be politically useful. In this 
way the German Empire could be conveniently rep- 
resented as the Power which was carefully preparing 
for an aggressive war, and which was bent on dis- 
turbing the peace of Europe. Being past masters 
in the art of organising such campaigns of slander, 
the English knew that the most idiotic lie will be be- 
lieved, if only it be repeated often enough and in the 
proper tone of virtuous indignation. And this is 
what did, in fact, happen. The real motives under- 
lying British policy since 1902 all find their expres- 
sion in the motto: Germaniam esse delendam; and 
these motives were skilfully concealed behind th^ 
humbug relating to the German navy. It is evi- 
dent that the British Government did not desire such 
motives, dictated by mere vulgar jealousy of Ger- 
man industry and German maritime trade, to be rec- 
ognised as the real basis of its policy. Therefore 
it was sought to conceal, wherever possible, these 
motives behind a veil. The German navy proved an 
admirable " veil." Whoever takes the trouble to 
compare the number and the size of the warships 
then existing in either country, will at once admit 
this. 

After King Edward had succeeded, by means of 
the entente cordiale with France, in bringing about 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 173 

the great change of front in England's foreign pol- 
icy ; and whilst he was consistently and perseveringly 
pursuing his work along the lines laid down ; the 
British Admiralty, on the other hand, commenced tak- 
ing steps with a view to modifying the conditions of 
national defence, so as to adapt them to the require- 
ments of the new political situation. A thorough re- 
organisation of the Navy began in 1905 ; not only 
was the fleet's readiness for war largely increased, 
but above all was its distribution over the various 
seas completely rearranged. As soon as France 
had become England's faithful vassal, it was no 
longer necessary that the Mediterranean should re- 
main the center of gravity of British naval policy. 
This center of gravity was now transferred to the 
North Sea. The Russian fleet had been destroyed 
at Tsushima; the strong British squadron hitherto 
maintained in Chinese waters was henceforth super- 
fluous, and was consequently recalled to the Eng- 
lish coast. A considerable number of cruisers, which 
had been stationed in diff'erent parts of the world, 
were likewise ordered home. In short, in the course 
of a few years, nearly the whole of the British fleet 
was concentrated in front of the eastern shores of 
Great Britain. Ample measures had been taken in 
Great Britain itself in view of this concentration. 
New harbors and dockyards were constructed, hew 
naval stations called into being, all along the North 
Sea coast; it was something entirely new in British 
history, for the British naval front had always ex- 



174 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

tended from the South East to the South West — 
along the shores of the Channel in the direction of the 
Atlantic. Of course, this truly epoch-making redis- 
tribution of the British fleet had only one object: 
namely, the safeguarding of the British Isles. The 
entire fleet must be concentrated in order to prevent 
its destruction by the German navy, and in order 
to defend Great Britain against invasion. A move- 
ment in favor of compulsory service in the army 
accompanied the reorganisation and redistribution 
of the navy. The movement in question was or- 
ganised by Lord Roberts ; the fleet, it was urged, 
could not be absolutely relied upon to prevent a 
German landing — and such landings were planned, 
and would take place in a moment when none ex- 
pected them. Lord Roberts commenced his agita- 
tion in 1905, and threw the whole weight of his au- 
thority — which in England was great — into the 
balance. In Germany his " invasion speeches " were 
taken seriously, and people really thought that this 
cunning old fox believed what he said. To-day, 
after documentary proofs of the Anglo-Belgian ne- 
gotiations have been brought to light, these credu- 
lous Germans will perhaps understand that Lord 
Roberts's propaganda was a well-organised " fake " 
— seeing that Lord Roberts could not possibly tell 
the truth as to his real motives. In reality, he and 
his supporters did undoubtedly wish the army to be 
increased by means of compulsory service in view of 
an invasion. But the invasion of which they were 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 175 

thinking was a British invasion of Belgium ! The au- 
thor of the present book has defended this thesis for 
the last eight years ; the documents found in Brussels, 
and the operations of the war themselves, confirm it 
entirely. The projected invasion was not the least 
of the causes which prompted the British Admiralty 
to concentrate almost the entire fleet in the North 
Sea ; for that fleet was necessary, if troops were 
to be transported safely to Belgium. Lord Roberts 
did not succeed with his programme of compulsory 
service; but British Ministers of War, and notably 
the " pro-German idealist " Haldane, were able none 
the less, with the already existing means at their 
disposal, to prepare the invasion of Belgium in such 
a way as to excite general surprise — especially in 
Germany. 

King Edward and his Ministers wished, if possible, 
to prevent a further increase of the German navy ; 
they wished to save expenses for their own country, 
and to be able — as was later on frequently said in 
England — to undertake without any risk the de- 
struction of every European fleet. Solely with this 
aim in view did a new epoch in the annals of British 
warship-building begin — in the year 1905. This 
epoch is known as the " Dreadnought era," from 
the name of the first battleship of that type. The 
leading men in Germany, however, realised the im- 
portance of the hour. They understood that it was 
not only the future of the German navy as such 
which was at stake, but that the question was wider 



176 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

still: namely, the question of the possibility, for 
Germany, to pursue henceforth, whether in Europe 
or beyond the seas, a policy which should not be de- 
pendent on England's good will or displeasure. It 
is possible that the German Reichstag, and a large 
section of German public opinion, did not see so far 
ahead ; but it was sufficient that they understood the 
welfare of the navy to be involved. The result was, 
that Germany at once proceeded, on the basis of 
the already existing Naval Law, to construct 
Dreadnoughts ; and that the work of widening-up and 
deepening the canal between the Baltic and the North 
Sea, as well as all other canals, harbors, etc., was 
immediately begun. The naval and political deci- 
sions taken, in Germany, in 1905 and 1906, were of 
the highest importance ; and their consequences have 
made themselves — and will continue to make them- 
selves — felt far beyond naval circles. England's 
attempt to " outdo " Germany by the invention of 
Dreadnoughts, had failed. For some years still it 
was believed, in England, that the Germans would 
not overcome the technical difficulties entailed by 
the construction of the new type of warship; but 
this illusion was destroyed in 1908. 

If we consider the above-discussed attempt to 
" outbuild " the German navy in the light of Eng- 
land's general policy, we shall see that the former 
was entirely consistent with all British historical 
traditions. The German Empire had never done 
England any harm, it pursued no hostile aims, it 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 177 

had not intrigued against British interests, it had 
not endeavored to engineer an anti-British coalition. 
The German Empire had, on the contrary, invariably 
acted in pure self-defence, whether from a political 
or from an economic point of view. History has 
never known a policy more peaceful than that pur- 
sued by German statesmen. The German fleet could 
not possibly, either in its conception or in its devel- 
opment, constitute a danger for Great Britain. 
None the less Germany was a great Continental 
Power, her trade and industry flourished, she claimed 
the right of protecting her national production, she 
tried to build herself a fleet: therefore must she be 
destroyed. How monstrous the English lies about 
the " German danger on the sea " were, is proved 
— but this is merely en passant — by the fact that 
in August 1914, after fifteen years' activity, the 
German fleet, viewed as a whole, was not even half 
as strong as the British. 



CHAPTER XIII 

KING EDWARD'S UNSUCCESSFUL AT- 
TEMPT TO SET THE NEAR EAST ABLAZE 

THE BOSNIAN CRISIS 

The policy of Great Britain in the Near East 
has undergone frequent and apparently unaccount- 
able modifications. At times England supported 
the Sultan, at others she was against him ; she would 
one day preach the doctrine of the sanctity and in- 
violability of the Dardanelles treaties, and the next 
day she would herself send a fleet into the Dardan- 
elles. The same Power which was full of enthusi- 
asm for the integrity of the Ottoman Empire would 
later on, amidst plentiful groans and sighs, steal a 
piece of that Empire for itself. With a stentorian 
voice which could be heard over the whole world, the 
British Government denounced the " atrocities " in 
Armenia or Macedonia; and at the very same mo- 
ment emissaries sent out from London, and notably 
the famous " Balkan Committee," were busy, in Ar- 
menia or Macedonia or elsewhere, stirring up trouble 
and creating disturbances which caused the very 

*' atrocities " in question to be perpetrated. We see 

178 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 179 

England working hand-in-hand alternately with Rus- 
sia and with Austria-Hungary. Where is the thread 
connecting the whole of British policy in the Near 
East during the last twenty-five years? 

Sultan Abdul Hamid was, for British statesmen, 
the incorporation of everything bad and detestable. 
They pretended to feel disgusted even when pro- 
nouncing his name. He had failed to carry out 
the reforms which he promised after the Russo- 
Turkish war ; he was an " oppressor," he allowed 
" atrocities " to be committed in Armenia and Mace- 
donia. The English even declared, with an expres- 
sion of unutterable disgust, that Abdul Hamid oc- 
casionally caused " undesirable " persons to be done 
away with. In reality, this intensely virtuous indig- 
nation was due chiefly to the knowledge that Abdul 
Hamid was an extremely clever politician and diplo- 
matist, and to the fact that he would not consent to 
renounce his claims to Egypt. Abdul Hamid had 
the most disagreeable habit of raising the Egyptian 
question from time to time, and precisely at the very 
moment when it was least convenient for the British 
Government. He had the further extremely dis- 
agreeable habit of keeping up, with the utmost skill, 
a game of ball between the Great Powers, in which 
the ball was never definitely caught and always re- 
bounced. The Sultan used to play off the one 
against the other, and in his able hands Turkey's 
chronic " sickness " became a valuable diplomatic 
asset. England's aim was, of course, to bring the 



180 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

Turkish Empire entirely under British influence, and 
then to deal with its various component parts ac- 
cording as circumstances required. The first object 
of British statesmen was to combat Russia's efforts 
to obtain possession of Constantinople and the Dar- 
danelles. In order to attain this object, it was 
necessary to treat the Porte alternately as a friend 
and as an adversary. Albeit, mistress of the oceans 
and of the Mediterranean, Great Britain was, until 
the conclusion of the Entente Cordiale, seriously un- 
easy about Russia's desire to obtain, in conjunction 
with France, a solution — if need be by force of arms 
— of the Dardanelles question. 

Shortly after the accession of the Emperor Wil- 
liam II to the throne, an entirely new factor in the 
politics of the Near East arose. The first journey 
of the German Emperor to Constantinople attracted 
the attention of Europe. This journey was displeas- 
ing to Russia, and consequently gave satisfaction 
to England. The German Government declared 
that its friendship with Turkey aimed exclusively at 
the obtention of economic advantages, and that it 
entertained no political ambitions whatsoever. The 
first railroad concessions to German companies in 
Turkey followed, and formed the beginning of the 
future great Bagdad undertaking. Ever since that 
first visit of the German Emperor to Constantinople, 
the friendship between Germany and Turkey has 
continued almost without interruption. The ex- 
planation is to be found in the simple fact that the 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 181 

German Empire is the only Power which did not wish 
to increase its influence or its possessions at the ex- 
pense of the sovereignty of the Sultan, of the finan- 
cial and economic strength of the Ottoman Empire, 
and of the latter's territorial integrity. 

It is evident that England's traditional policy in 
the Near East could not but make her regard the 
friendly and confidential relations between Germany 
and Turkey with the greatest dissatisfaction. It 
was, in the first place, an insult to England that the 
new Power Germany should venture to enter the 
ranks of the nations which were interested in Turkey. 
England was all the more uneasy, because her states- 
men clearly recognised that Germany's policy of 
maintaining and strengthening Turkey was not a 
mere pretext, but honest truth. England did not 
want a strong Turkey, and did not dream of toler- 
ating one. The stronger Turkey became, the less 
could Egypt be relied on — and the more intimate, 
also, must become the connection between Constan- 
tinople and the Islamitic world. Precisely this con- 
nection appeared to England, who rules over so 
many millions of Mussulmans, as a grave danger for 
her in India, Central Asia, and Africa. And we 
know that British statesmen are extraordinarily far- 
sighted in all matters where danger of any sort is to 
be detected. 

In addition to all this there remained the main 
source, as usual, of British anxiety: the market. 
It was disgraceful and unheard-of, an insult and an 



182 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

unfriendly act, that German industry should dare 
to penetrate ever more and more into the Ottoman 
Empire. British industry had already a hard strug- 
gle to maintain itself here against the French and the 
Austro-Hungarians. And now the Germans came 
on the scene ! England's uneasiness was increased 
by the projected German railroads; and ever since 
the beginning of the new century she did all she 
could during ten years, in conjunction with France 
and Russia, to hinder the constructian of the Bag- 
dad line. The Germans encountered here a funda- 
mental principle of British policy ; and all such prin- 
ciples, as we have often shown, have their roots in 
British trade. England has invariably been the 
most decided adversary of all great railroad under- 
takings — in so far as they were not in British hands 
or under British control. British statesmen have al- 
ways been well aware of the fact that every important 
railroad which is withdrawn from British control, 
diminishes British sea power and British maritime 
trade. The mistress of the seas controlled all the 
waterways of the world, which she could shut or open 
as she pleased. The " world's carrier " had at her 
disposal a trading fleet vastly superior to all others, 
an immense quantity of harbors owned by herself, to 
say nothing of all the other harbors in the whole 
world. Through these harbors British goods find 
their way into the markets all over the globe; each 
one of such harbors constitutes a basis for the con- 
quest of new markets. As far as railroads were of 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 183 

use in assisting British goods to conquer the mar- 
kets, they were naturally welcomed by Great Brit- 
ain as instruments of civilisation and progress, and 
as preparing the way for international fraternity. 
But whenever it so happened that a railroad did not 
start from a harbor — that is to say whenever it 
served to open up directly a Continental market for 
a Continental State — British indignation knew no 
bounds ; for money was now being earned, and the 
English had no share in the profits. Thus was Eng- 
land deeply incensed by the construction of the Si- 
berian railroad, and still more so by the prolonga- 
tion of the latter through, Manchuria to Port Arthur. 
As for the German plan of a Bagdad railroad, i. e. 
of a line connecting Constantinople (or, if you will, 
Berlin) with the Persian Gulf, it was in the eyes of 
the English a direct challenge. It was also an un- 
heard-of insolence, and an " unfriendly act " on the 
part of the German Government. 

The time-honored antagonism of England and 
Russia in the Near East was bridged over by the 
Triple Entente. The latter had more than one 
basis. On the one hand, there was England's ha- 
tred, and the coalition which that hatred had forged 
against Germany ; on the other hand, there was Rus- 
sia's detestation of Austria, and her traditional need 
of expansion towards Constantinople and the Dar- 
danelles. In addition to these factors there came 
the doctrine of Panslavism, and this doctrine proved 
a most useful auxiliary of the above-mentioned " ex- 



184< THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

pansive tendencies " of the Russian Government ; 
last but not least came the " guardianship " of all the 
Balkan peoples, which Russia regarded as a part of 
her historical mission. British policy had succeeded 
in checking Russia by means of the Japanese War, 
and of the conventions concerning Persia and Cen- 
tral Asia ; with rare skill had England then managed 
to concentrate the entire expansive activity of Rus- 
sia in the Near East. England was here in need of 
the Russian army. Russia, whom we may well call, 
as far as Oriental politics are concerned, the heredi- 
tary enemy of England, was now employed by the 
London Cabinet as a battering-ram against Ger- 
many and Austria-Hungary. 

During many years Russia and Austria-Hungary 
had maintained a compromise in the Balkans, whereby 
the solution of the thorny questions at issue was 
postponed. The same remark applies to the rela- 
tions between Austria-Hungary and Italy. The 
latter country's interest in the Balkans had up till 
now been limited, albeit France, after her reconcil- 
iation with Italy, steadily endeavored to distract 
Italy's attention from Tripoli and Tunis, and to 
turn it towards Albania. On the other hand, the 
marriage of the King of Italy with a Montenegrin 
Princess had ipso facto drawn Italy and Russia 
nearer each other, for the princely House of Mon- 
tenegro is connected by marriage with the Russian 
imperial Family. The ancient quarrels between 
Vienna and Rome, and especially the ever-present 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 185 

hatred of the Irredentists, furnished England like- 
wise with admirable instruments for her " policy of 
sowing dissension." Finally did Turkey herself be- 
come an aim — and an important aim — of Italian 
policy. 

The center-points of the Young Turk movement, 
of the political importance of which Germany took 
no notice until a very late period, and which she 
probably underestimated up till the last minute — 
the center-points of this movement were in Paris and 
London. The Young Turks received in these cities 
their political education, and to a large extent also 
the resources necessary for their propaganda. The 
latter had as its object the introduction of more lib- 
eral conditions into the Turkish Empire. A con- 
ditio sine qua non of this introduction was the put- 
ting aside of Abdul Hamid. England had always 
intensely hated Abdul Hamid, especially since he had 
become a friend of the German Emperor. The Lon- 
don Cabinet was of opinion that the cordial relations 
between Germany and Turkey were due exclusively 
to Abdul Hamid, and that the personal friendship 
between the two Sovereigns had alone rendered pos- 
sible the railroad and other concessions to Germany. 
The aim of British policy was, consequently, to get 
rid of Abdul Hamid as soon as possible. The Balkan 
Committee and other British emissaries set about 
stirring up dissatisfaction in the Turkish Empire 
against him, wherever it was possible to do so; no 
expenditure was too great for them; it must be ad- 



186 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

mitted that, in such cases, England and her agents 
are never " stingy " as regards money. 

In 1905 Great Britain succeeded, under King Ed- 
ward's guidance, in obtaining the abrogation of the 
Miirzsteg Convention which Austria-Hungary and 
Russia had concluded two years previously. In its 
place an agreement between the six European Powers 
was drawn up. England, on this occasion, as- 
sumed the leadership; the Island was able to dictate 
to the Continent in a purely Continental matter. A 
remarkable phenomenon, and a proof of the ever- 
growing world-power of England! 

England's new policy in the Balkans was labelled 
" Macedonian Reforms." The London Cabinet took 
the matter up as accredited spokesman ; and France, 
Russia, and Italy followed in the track of the Brit- 
ish Ministers. Since 1903 King Edward went every 
year to Vienna or Ischl, in order to visit Em- 
peror Francis Joseph, and to develop the " historical 
friendship " between Austria-Hungary and England. 
This " historical friendship " had invariably con- 
sisted in the fact that Austrian and Hungarian 
statesmen were weak and shortsighted enough to al- 
low their countries to be misused by England for 
her own purposes. King Edward's aim, at the time 
of which we are treating, was to induce Austria- 
Hungary to let herself be taken in tow by England in 
the Balkans. If he had succeeded in this, it was in- 
evitable that dissension should break-out between 
Vienna and Berlin. This was what King Edward 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 187 

intended ; for in this way, not only would Germany's 
Oriental policy have been undermined, but the posi- 
tion of the German Empire in Europe would have 
been weakened. And it should be remembered that 
Great Britain thus changed her policy in the Near 
East at the very moment of the European tension 
due to Morocco, and immediately after the Russo- 
Japanese War. 

In 1908 the Austro-Hungarian Minister for For- 
eign Affairs, Baron Aehrenthal, published the deci- 
sion of the Imperial and Royal Government to build 
a railroad through the Sandjak of Novi-Bazar. 
The object of this railroad was to establish direct 
communication between Bosnia and Salonica, and 
the Treaty of Berlin of 1878 gave Austria-Hungary 
the right to build it. None the less did the an- 
nouncement of her intentions create a storm of in- 
dignation in Europe. The first peals of thunder 
came from the direction of Great Britain. It is 
true that the treaty rights of Austria-Hungary could 
not be denied either in London or Paris or St. Pe- 
tersburg; but Austria's action was declared incom- 
patible with the spirit underlying all disinterested 
international co-operation. The intention was at- 
tributed to Austria of utilising her policy of economic 
expansion towards the yEgean Sea as a sort of " fore- 
runner " for a policy of political expansion, which 
should bring her eventually to Salonica. In reality 
the storm in question was directed against Germany 
rather than against Austria-Hungary. It was hoped 



188 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

to intimidate the latter, and by means of this intimi- 
dation to separate her from Germany. The English 
Press declared that the evident intention was to 
bring the Balkan Peninsula and the whole of the 
Near East under Germanic hegemony. The " Serv- 
ian Question," which was later on to be predomi- 
nant, appeared on the scene ; and under England's 
leadership, Russia, France, and Italy all supported 
Servia when she declared that her vital interests 
would be most seriously endangered by the projected 
railroad. The Panserb programme included the 
annexation of the Sandjak of Novi-Bazar by Servia; 
and the construction of an Austrian railroad through 
it would have therefore constituted a grave impedi- 
ment to the realisation of such aims. 

The wholly unexpected attitude of England caused 
profound surprise in Austria-Hungary, who felt her- 
self deeply injured thereby. The fact was that she 
had never, up till now, realised the real motives of 
British policy. Austria was proud of her ancient 
friendly relations with Great Britain ; she was con- 
scious of having in former times rendered the latter 
appreciable services ; and, ever since the formation 
of the anti-German coalition, her statesmen and 
press had been fond of insisting on the fact that no 
dissensions existed, or were even conceivable, between 
the two Powers. Ever since the beginning of the 
Anglo-German estrangement, the Austro-Hungarian 
Government had always taken particular care to give 
repeated public expression to the value which it at- 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 189 

tached to the maintenance of these friendly relations. 
Then came also the annual visits of King Edward 
to Emperor Francis Joseph. In short, Austrian 
public opinion was sincerely surprised, not to say 
amazed, when Great Britain, in her virtuous indigna- 
tion, declared Baron Aehrenthal's railroad scheme 
to be the greatest infamy of the century. Italy 
joined the chorus, or rather Great Britain per- 
suaded her to join it. The Italian press never tired 
of repeating that Italian trade in the Balkans would 
be seriously damaged after the completion of the 
Austrian railroad, and that Italy could not permit 
of Austria-Hungary marching on Salonica. The 
bitterness created in Italy was one of the valuable 
successes d'a cote achieved by the British campaign. 
King Edward and his Ministers continued ener- 
getically and perseveringly their propaganda in the 
Balkans, whereby they defended especially the " Pro- 
gramme of Macedonian Reform." King Edward's 
celebrated visit to Reval, his meeting with Czar 
Nicholas, the toasts exchanged, and the semi-official 
comments in the press (July 19th, 1908), brought 
the Anglo-Russian negotiations to a conclusion, and 
constituted so to speak the apogee of the English 
sovereign's diplomatic triumph. The usual diplo- 
matic assurances to the effect that nothing had been 
discussed at Reval which was in any way contrary 
to German interests, could not do away with the 
impression that King Edward's coalition against 
the German Empire was now complete. The " Mace- 



190 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

donian Question " was considered its best instrument ; 
for the carrying out of the programme of Macedo- 
nian Reform would have implied a violation of the 
Turkish Empire absolutely incompatible with the lat- 
ter's sovereignty and integrity. The German Em- 
pire must, in this way, have been placed before the 
question as to whether it would abandon Turkey to 
her fate or not ; this question, as the English intended, 
necessarily led up to the further one: shall we give 
way or shall we go to war? Austria-Hungary was 
in the same manner to be placed before a similar di- 
lemma: should she, under such circumstances, still 
remain by the side of Germany, or should she, in ex- 
change perhaps for compensations, go over to the 
other side? As we see, quite a lot of prospects and 
possibilities were opened up to British statesmen ; 
and these possibilities, if cleverly made use of, might 
lead to the weakening — or, who knows, the destruc- 
tion — of Germany. 

But now something unexpected happened : the Rev- 
olution in Turkey. The " Macedonian Reform 
Scheme " of England, Russia, France, and Italy, 
had terribly frightened the Turks. Up till now 
Russia and England had, owing to the divergency 
of their aims, held each other in check; and it was 
to this rivalry that Turkey owed the continuation 
of her existence. The Reval meeting drove home the 
fact that the two ancient adversaries had come to 
an understanding in Oriental questions ; and this un- 
derstanding signified the doom of the Turkish Em- 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 191 

pire. The Young Turks took the European Powers 
at their word ; Abdul Hamid having as yet failed 
to take " Macedonian Reform " seriously in hand, 
was deposed; the new rulers drew up a constitution, 
and inscribed on their banner the maintenance of the 
territorial integrity of the Empire, and also the 
equality of all nations and religious bodies therein. 
In this way was the bottom taken out of the Reval 
programme. Sir Edward Grey declared himself 
" satisfied with the turn that matters had taken," 
and it was decided to give the Young Turks time. 
England expected the deposition of Abdul Hamid to 
entail the collapse of the friendship between Germany 
and Turkey, and at once changed her outward atti- 
tude towards the latter. The change, as usual, was 
very skilfully explained as being a " matter of prin- 
ciple " : liberty-loving England, it was said, could not 
possibly be a friend of the tyrannical and reactionary 
government of Abdul Hamid; but all the more sin- 
cere, therefore, was her joy on witnessing the birth 
of the new liberal and progressive and humanitarian 
Ottoman Empire, to which she extended a cordial 
and hearty welcome. In this way did the British 
Government think to be able to lift Germany from 
out of the saddle in Constantinople. It is, unfortu- 
nately, not possible to analyse here in detail the pol- 
icy of England in the Near East since the accession 
to the throne of Edward VII. But that policy of- 
fers, on a small scale, truly typical examples of the 
skill with which British statesmanship is able to make 



192 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

use even of totally contradictory events in the pur- 
suit of one fundamental aim, which is never lost sight 
of for a minute. England's calculations after the 
Young Turk Revolution appeared at first to be suc- 
cessful ; and, for a time, she was in fact more popu- 
lar in Constantinople than Germany. This was only 
natural, since the Young Turks were continually told 
that Germany was Abdul Hamid's friend and Young 
Turkey's enemy — and that she had never really 
helped Turkey, but had only acted from a purely 
egotistical standpoint. Only little by little did Ger- 
man diplomacy succeed in again consolidating Ger- 
many's position ; and some time elapsed before the 
Young Turk politicians understood that Germany 
was the only Power whose Oriental policy was com- 
patible with the interests of the Turkish Empire. 

In the autumn of 1908 Austria-Hungary saw her- 
self obliged to formally annex the two provinces of 
Bosnia and Herzegovina, which she had occupied for 
the past thirty years. It was a necessary step ; for 
the Panserb propaganda threatened to revolutionise 
Bosnia ; and, on the other hand, the Young Turk 
programme was a national one, and claimed Bosnia 
and Herzegovina as ancient Turkish provinces in- 
habited by numerous Mussulmans. Austria-Hun- 
gary had either to annex the territories in question, 
or else to lose them. 

This step came as a surprise to England — all the 
more so, as King Edward had visited Emperor 
Francis Joseph at Ischl only six weeks before the 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 193 

annexation, and had heard nothing about the pro- 
posed measure. The astonishment and fury was so 
great in London, that even King Edward forgot him- 
self, and dropped his mask. The Austro-Hungarian 
Ambassador in London, Count Mensdorf, was en- 
trusted with the duty of communicating the annexa- 
tion to King Edward, together with an autograph 
letter from his Sovereign. He was received in an 
most discourteous and unfriendly manner, and him- 
self declared : " I was chased away." As we have 
already said, the annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina 
did not change in any way the existing state of affairs 
in the Balkans ; it only, as it were, put the seal on 
a document that had been drawn up thirty years 
previously. None the less did the whole of Europe, 
at Great Britain's instigation, wax indignant at Aus- 
tria-Hungary's so-called " breach of faith." In 
England, and also in France and Russia, the view 
was expressed that the German Empire was the real 
moving spirit in the whole business, and that Austria- 
Hungary had only been led astray. There ensued 
the celebrated Bosnian crisis, of which, at first sight, 
Servia appeared to be the center-point. Servia com- 
plained loudly about the destruction of her hopes 
and aspirations, claimed compensations and access 
to the Adriatic, placed her army on a war footing, 
and declared urbi et orbi that she would not sur- 
render to Austria. In reality, England was the cen- 
ter-point and the agent provocateur of the whole 
Bosnian crisis. The British Government cared 



194 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

nothing for the aspirations of Servia, it cared not 
about Bosnia, nor about Russia, nor about Italy; 
it had solely in view the humiliation of Germany and 
Austria-Hungary, and the destruction of their alli- 
ance. It entertained the hope of seeing Germany 
abandon her ally. Had this happened, it would have 
been easy to draw Austria-Hungary over to the 
Triple Entente after the crisis ; in this way the whole 
of Germany's Oriental policy, together with the Bag- 
dad railroad and other concessions, would have come 
to an end. King Edward expected, therefore, to 
deal a decisive blow by means of the " Bosnian 
crisis " which he had organised. The bullet missed 
its mark, seeing that Germany remained faithful to 
Austria-Hungary, and adopted the latter's stand- 
point. Russia and France, on the other hand, were 
not prepared, in view of the resolute attitude of the 
Central Powers, to push matters to a head. A skil- 
ful diplomatic manoeuvre of Prince Billow made it 
easier for the Russian Government to accept the an- 
nexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The crisis was 
thus brought to an end. Austria-Hungary gained 
in reality nothing, for she had only preserved herself 
from otherwise certain injury. Simultaneously with 
the proclamation of the annexation, the Austro- 
Hungarian Government gave back the Sandjak of 
Novi-Bazar to Turkey. But the latter did not, in 
reality, gain anything by this either. Russia neither 
gained nor lost anything; and Servia's wishes were 
not realised. The only country which gained any- 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 195 

thing was England, for owing to the re-cession of 
the Sandjak to Turkey, the Austrian railroad plan 
of which we have already spoken was definitely 
knocked on the head. The English had no longer 
to fear the competition of such an international trad- 
ing route. 

England could, in general, be more satisfied with 
the European situation resulting from the Bosnian 
crisis, than is generally supposed. Of course, King 
Edward's plan to destroy the Austro-German alli- 
ance, to humiliate these two Powers, and to excite 
France and Russia against them, had failed. Why.'^ 
Because neither France nor Russia were ready, see- 
ing that both had been taken by surprise. Neither 
was England ready. The London Cabinet had reck- 
oned with a slower development of affairs in the 
Balkans, and it had not foreseen either the Turkish 
Revolution or the annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina. 
Despite their unpreparedness, the British statesmen 
had put all the wheels of their diplomatic machinery 
into movement against the German Empire and her 
ally. 

France and Russia had been compelled to admit 
that they were not ready. This admission, coupled 
with their diplomatic defeat, was bound to wound 
both Powers severely in their national pride and in 
their prestige. This is what Great Britain secretly 
desired. The British calculation, that henceforth 
France and Russia would proceed to apply them- 
selves steadily and systematically to the task of de- 



196 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

veloping their military strength, was correct. Brit- 
ish policy had also succeeded in making Russia more 
anxious than ever to rehabilitate herself in the eyes 
of the Balkan people; it had succeeded in inspiring 
Servia with the desire of vengeance, not only against 
Austria-Hungary, but also against Turkey; and the 
work of exciting Italy against Austria had pro- 
gressed satisfactorily. 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE CATASTROPHE IS MORE CAREFULLY 
PREPARED 

1909-1914 

The good Germans breathed more freely, and re- 
joiced at the political detente. Their astonishment 
was aU the greater when, at the end of 1908 and the 
beginning of 1909, a terrible cry arose at the other 
side of the North Sea about an appalling " German 
peril." It was stated that the fleet of German 
Dreadnoughts was in a fair way to out-rivalling that 
of Great Britain. The cunning tricks of the Ger- 
man Government, and especially of Admiral von Tir- 
pitz, had succeeded in secretly hastening the con- 
struction of the German navy. We have already 
mentioned, in a previous chapter, how skilfully the 
British Government made use of these lies for the 
purpose of hoodwinking the Colonies and the United 
States. The whole story was a falsehood from be- 
ginning to end, for there could be no question of the 
construction of the German fleet being " secretly 
hastened " ; and the British Government knew this 
perfectly well. The German Government furnished, 

197 



198 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

through its diplomatic representatives and also pub- 
licly through the press, more than enough explana- 
tions showing that the pretended English reck- 
onings about the number of German battleships 
were wholly wrong. In the same " year of panic," 
1908—09, a conference of the leading maritime na- 
tions was held in London, at the invitation of the 
British Government. The result of this Conference 
was the publication of the " London Declaration 
concerning Maritime Law," which was subsequently 
so much commented upon. Its origin was as follows : 
During the Conference at The Hague in 1907, the 
leading maritime nations had declared themselves in 
agreement with the German proposal to institute a 
permanent international Court of Prizes. It was 
intended to convert the latter, in future maritime 
wars, into a Court of Appeal which should be above 
all the national Prize Courts. But there was no 
international law corresponding to the proposed in- 
ternational institution. It was the task of the Lon- 
don Conference to create this international law, and 
it did so in the form of the London Declaration above 
mentioned. The avowed object of the latter was to 
draw up provisions for the protection of neutral ship- 
ping in time of war. And, as a matter of fact, the 
contents of the Declaration were such as to furnish, 
if not a perfect, at all events a very acceptable 
basis on which the safety and the rights of neutral 
shipping could be guaranteed. The British Govern- 
ment instructed its delegates to sign the Declaration, 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 199 

just as in 1907 they had signed the Hague Conven- 
tion concerning the International Prize Court. But 
no ratification of either agreement ever took place. 
The British Government, albeit pretending that it 
was in favor of the ratification, engineered behind 
the scenes a violent agitation against the London 
Declaration, and against the establishment of an In- 
ternational Court of Prizes. This agitation lasted 
several years. The agitators told the credulous and 
trembling islanders that the whole thing was just 
simply a base German intrigue. The German Gov- 
ernment had succeeded, according to them, in out- 
witting harmless British statesmen and naval officers 
in The Hague and in London. The International 
Court of Prizes and the London Declaration signi- 
fied nothing else but " Sea Law made in Germany " ; 
it was intended, in the case of an Anglo-German war, 
to deprive England of all the means which she pos- 
sessed for defending her own maritime trade, and to 
prevent her applying in future those time-honored 
methods which, in the wars of former centuries, had 
produced such brilliant results. The British nation 
was naturally most indignant at this unheard-of Ger- 
man infamy ; and the consequence was that the House 
of Lords, by rejecting a Bill which provided that the 
existing British Prize Law should be modified, frus- 
trated the ratification of the Hague Convention and 
also of the London Declaration. When war broke 
out in 1914 the Declaration did not, therefore, pos- 
sess international validity; but simple-minded per- 



200 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

sons in Germany and in the neutral countries firmly 
believed that England would act according to the 
provisions of the Declaration, since the latter was 
the fruit of an unanimous agreement among all the 
maritime nations which took part in the Conference. 
Ever since 1909, it is true, British admirals and 
statesmen had calmly and coldly proclaimed that it 
was quite immaterial whether the Declaration were 
ratified or not, for the moment war broke out " it 
would be torn into rags and thrown into the sea." 
The history of the war up to date has proved that 
the British admirals were well informed. It is true 
that the rank of an admiral would not have been 
necessary for that ; for it is an old habit of British 
Governments to announce in the most pathetical 
tone of voice their readiness to enter into negotia- 
tions, and to sign conventions, of this sort. Eng- 
land was always enthusiastic about right and justice 
in maritime warfare — provided she could by these 
means bind the hands of other nations without com- 
mitting herself to anything. We have already 
shown, in a previous chapter, that England pre- 
tended at first to accept the standpoint of the Armed 
Neutrality League in 1780, and that she afterwards 
rejected all the desiderata of the League w^ith a sneer. 
In 1856, in the celebrated Declaration of Paris, 
Great Britain accepted certain principles to which 
British naval commanders had not paid the slightest 
attention during the Crimean War a year or two 
earlier. The British Admiralty renounced, on the 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 201 

same occasion, its claim to the right of capture — 
for the times, and the modified conditions of war- 
fare, made it appear unsuitable to raise such a claim. 
But the Declaration of Paris has never been ratified 
either, and the British Government did not hesitate 
for one minute, after war had broken out in 1914, 
in " tearing it into rags and throwing it into the 
sea." Notably were the provisions regarding the 
freedom of cargoes under neutral flag, and those re- 
garding the right of blockade, trampled under foot. 
" International Maritime Law " : for the pirates 
who rule the seas, these words have never meant any- 
thing else than unlimited freedom for themselves. 
The English were always glad to see other nations 
bind themselves hand and foot; with sincere satis- 
faction did they watch the spectacle of the Euro- 
pean nations listening with pious credulity to Eng- 
lish speeches about international civilisation and the 
protection of neutral countries ; and when learned 
professors wrote ponderous volumes on the subject 
of " the progress and development of maritime law 
in time of war," the Islanders chuckled with delight. 
The stupidity of the Continental nations has been 
as incurable in this case, as in all other cases where 
the question of the relations between the sacred 
Island and its European victims has arisen. Great 
Britain has always been a friend of international 
parleys, for they have invariably proved a useful 
instrument for her. At the moment when the Hague 
Conference of 1907 was being prepared, the British 



202 THE VAMPIRE OT THE CONTINENT 

Government endeavored to have a discussion on " the 
reduction of armaments " inserted in the programme. 
The object was a double one: firstly, to prevent by 
means of an international agreement the German 
fleet from becoming inconveniently strong; secondly, 
to permit in this way of the British navy maintain- 
ing its (at that time crushing) superiority with the 
least possible expense. King Edward knew that he 
would have his European coalition unanimously on 
the side of England. Had the German Government 
not accepted the decision of the Conference, the Ger- 
man Empire would have been, of course, stamped as 
the unscrupulous and dangerous disturber of the 
world's peace. Prince Biilow saw the trap that was 
being laid, and declared beforehand that Germany 
would take no part in a debate of this kind. Thus 
the cunning plan failed, and the British Premier, 
Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, denied indignantly 
that the London Cabinet had ever intended setting 
a trap at all. During the following years, British 
Ministers- often attempted to raise the question of a 
limitation of armaments, and to induce Germany to 
fall in with their wishes — sometimes by flattery, 
sometimes by veiled menaces. 

The period under review was, in fact, characterised 
as a whole by England's efforts to check the growth 
of the German navy by means different to those 
hitherto adopted. The aim remained the same: 
namely, to weaken and intimidate Germany. " First 
humiliate, then destroy " : this continued to be the 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 203 

motto. There were many Germans, and amongst 
them several political men, who did not understand 
this, who believed in the possibility of Anglo-German 
friendship, and who understood not the lessons 
taught by the history of Great Britain. It was 
about 1909 that the beautiful phrase came into fash- 
ion, which we used to hear right up till the outbreak 
of war : namely, that " Great Britain must and will 
recognise us as possessing equal rights with herself 
in Europe and in the whole world." Then, it was 
declared, the peace of the world would be definitely 
assured, and the German and the British merchant 
would work peacefully together ; the two nations, re- 
lated to each other by tics of blood, would hence- 
forth march together along the path of progress 
towards the conquest of international solidarity. 
The English even hinted that, in this rosy future, 
the customs duties would also be suppressed, for they 
were a hindrance to the intimacy of the two nations. 
The enormous expenditure on armaments would be 
reduced to a minimum, and the gigantic sums thus 
saved would be employed in order to develop the 
peaceful work of civilisation, instead of being sacri- 
ficed to the naval Moloch. He who refused to believe 
in this message of great joy was denounced, between 
1910 and 1914, as a narrow-minded jingo who, in 
opposition to the will of "the immense majority of 
the German people," desired to bring about a war 
between the two " cousins." It was a period which 
we to-day recall to mind without any pride — a pe- 



204 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

riod of self-deception and dangerous illusions on the 
part of a very large section of the German public. 
This self-deception was due, in the first place, to the 
German habit of believing that which it is agreeable 
to believe ; and, in the second place, to a curious mis- 
conception concerning the character of the British 
and the essence of their Empire. When has Eng- 
land, in the whole course of her history, ever recog- 
nised a strong and prosperous European maritime 
nation as possessing equal rights with herself? 
Never! But, it was argued in Germany, that was 
in the old times of violence and darkness. Those 
times were now gone ; and England now knew as well 
as, if not better than, any other nation, that the 
blessings of peace were much superior even to the 
advantages reaped from a victorious war. In addi- 
tion to this, Germany was England's best client, and 
the British merchant was far too businesslike to wish 
to lose such a client by weakening or destroying him. 
Then we must not forget the international ties which 
bind the modern nations so closely to each other. 
And finally — piece de resistance — the " common 
ideals of humanity"! Who could forget them? A 
few months before war broke out, the German Am- 
bassador in London, Prince Lichnowsky, publicly 
declared that " nations " and " national ideals " 
were but stepping-stones leading up to the ultimate 
ideal of " humanity." So intimately was this dip- 
lomatist then convinced of the existence of Anglo- 
German harmony ! 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 205 

During the last 350 years England has never 
changed her political and economic aims and meth- 
ods. Neither the British Empire nor the British na- 
tion can be understood unless we know their history. 
The statesman or diplomatist who does not know or 
does not understand this history, cannot perceive and 
cannot understand the unchangeable aim which Brit- 
ish policy unswervingly pursues. He must, there- 
fore, infallibly be led astray. 

The last alarm was given by the Morocco crisis of 
1911. The fundamental reasons underlying this 
crisis have been, in general, misunderstood in Ger- 
many. It is necessary, therefore, that we should 
briefly dwell on them here. The motive which 
prompted the German Government to send the Pan- 
ther to Agadir was not the inauguration of a new 
Moroccan policy, but simply the liquidation of the 
old one. Favored by mistakes previously committed 
by Germany, French expansion in Morocco could 
no longer be checked by an appeal to existing trea- 
ties ; the German Secretary of State for Foreign 
Aff'airs, Herr von Kiderlen-Waechter, feared that 
Germany would one day find herself in a position in 
which she could no longer claim anything; he there- 
fore decided to have the Panther sent to Agadir in 
order to compel France to enter into a discussion 
with the German Government. The latter — we 
must insist on the fact — intended from the begin- 
ning to leave Morocco entirely to France, but de- 



206 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

sired compensations. As to whether the Agadir 
demonstration was a well-chosen one, or as to whether 
the Franco-German negotiations were always con- 
ducted as they should have been, this is another 
question, which we cannot discuss here. However 
that may be, France proved willing to enter into a 
discussion ; and the negotiations would in all prob- 
ability have been satisfactorily concluded within a 
very short time, if England had not suddenly inter- 
fered. On the 1st of July, 1911, the Panther ap- 
peared in front of Agadir. On July 21st the Eng- 
lish Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Lloyd-George, 
made, after a Cabinet Council had previously been 
held, a speech at the Mansion House in London. 
The most important passage of the speech, which 
was written, was as follows : — 

"The potent influence (of England) has many a 
time been in the past, and may yet be in the future, 
invaluable to the cause of human liberty. It has 
more than once in the past redeemed continental na- 
tions — who are sometimes too apt to forget that 
service — from overwhelming disaster and even from 
national extinction. I would make great sacrifices 
to preserve peace, I conceive that nothing would 
justify a disturbance of international goodwill ex- 
cept questions of the gravest national moment. But 
if a situation were to be forced upon us in which 
peace would only be preserved by the surrender of 
the great and beneficent position Britain has won 
by centuries of heroism and achievement, by allow- 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 207 

ing Britain to be treated where her interests are 
vitally affected as if she were of no account in the 
Cabinet of nations, then I say emphatically that 
peace at that price would be a humiliation intolerable 
for a great country like ours to endure." 

Four years separate us from the time when 
these words were spoken, and we can now judge them 
with impartiality. The speech, made by Mr. Lloyd- 
George on behalf of his colleagues in the Cabinet, 
shows us with unusual clearness the British concep- 
tion of the part played by England in the history 
of Europe. We have tried, in the course of this 
book, to give the reader a bird's-eye view of some 
centuries of that history ; England, without one sin- 
gle exception, has been found to be the Vampire of 
Europe. Her economic policy, her political policy, 
her wars, have invariably had but a single aim: to 
drain the riches and the life-blood of the Continental 
nations. In order to do this, she has systematically 
stirred them up against each other. — But Mr. 
Lloyd-George, with true English impertinence, speaks 
about the " invaluable services " rendered by Great 
Britain to the cause of Continental freedom ; he even 
dares to talk to Europe about " centuries of heroism 
and achievement," when the sole object of his coun- 
try has always been piracy and theft under every 
conceivable form. 

The negotiations between France and Germany in 
1911 did not concern England in the least, for they 
did not touch upon anything belonging to her. 



208 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

Their object was Morocco, which England had long 
since conceded to France, and also French colonies 
in Africa. The British statesmen knew perfectly 
well, however much they may have denied it, that 
Germany did not intend acquiring anything in Mo- 
rocco. They knew just as well that Germany only 
desired to put an end, once and for all, to the fric- 
tion between herself and France arising from out 
of the Morocco question. But this was precisely 
what England could not tolerate. For that reason 
the passions of the French people were kindled, dur- 
ing the negotiations, by the most idiotic lies manu- 
factured in London. For that reason England in- 
terfered with the negotiations, and screamed about 
the German Empire intending to attack France. All 
other pretexts and phrases were so many lies, or 
attempts to conceal the truth. The Moroccan ques- 
tion in itself had only fifth-rate importance for Eng- 
land. But that the two great Continental nations 
should negotiate together without England, or con- 
clude a treaty without the latter's authorisation: 
this is what was incompatible with England's century- 
old traditions. Therefore did British statesmen de- 
cide to intervene rapidly and resolutely; and, as is 
usual in such cases, to utter threats of war. French 
newspapers in English pay denounced imaginary 
acts of treason ; and the Premier, M. Joseph Caillaux, 
who was inclined to draw up with Germany an Agree- 
ment satisfactory to both parties, was got rid of. 
The lies spread regarding all sorts of German de- 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 209 

signs on Morocco and on France, were of English 
origin. The London Cabinet feared that the great 
European c9alition against Germany might be broken 
up by a Franco-German understanding. The latter 
had consequently to be prevented at all costs, and 
this result was obtained. 

The crisis of 1911 showed Great Britain to be 
the uncontested leader of the anti-German coalition. 
The London Cabinet would not have been sorry to 
see war break out at that time, although Russia was 
not yet ready. The British press, and also the 
French press which had been corrupted by English 
gold, loudly demanded war. England finally ob- 
tained without war what she wanted: namely, closer 
co-operation and increased deadly hatred against 
Germany among the Powers of the Triple Entente. 

The military conventions between Great Britain, 
France, and Belgium, were revised and completed. 
Amongst other things, the Moroccan crisis had 
shown that the plan of a British landing en masse 
on the Continent needed to be recast. British ex- 
perts were of opinion that, during the crisis of 1911, 
the mobilisation of the fleet destined to transport 
the expeditionary corps did not work as smoothly 
as it ought to have done in the case of a war with 
Germany. The defects were carefully and rapidly 
repaired, and the machine was kept ready to be put 
into motion instantly. A definite agreement had 
been concluded with France, according to which the 
French fleet was entirely to be concentrated in the 



210 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

Mediterranean, whereas England guaranteed the 
safety of the Northern coasts of France. Conversa- 
tions were begun with Russia regarding an active co- 
operation in the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, and 
the Baltic. In short, it was clear to the governing 
circles of England that the next crisis should bring 
war, or at any rate the complete humiliation of Ger- 
many. The three Powers proceeded to develop their 
armaments on land and sea with the utmost energy. 
The controversy concerning the mouth of the 
Scheldt was characteristic of the situation existing 
during the years which immediately preceded the war. 
Holland wished to modernise the forts at Flushing, 
in order to be able, if need be, to close the mouth 
of the Scheldt. She had a perfect right to do so; 
but, at England's instigation, a tremendous hulla- 
baloo was raised in Belgium, France and Russia. 
The real reason of all the noise was not — as was 
pretended — that the Scheldt should be kept open 
for the British fleet, in order that the latter might 
protect Belgium's neutrality; but it is to be found 
in the fact that England had already destined Ant- 
werp to be the basis of her operations against Ger- 
many in the coming war. The large increase of the 
Belgian army had been ordered by England, because 
she desired to see her ally Belgium stronger than 
had been the case up till then. During many years, 
the Belgian nation was systematically fanaticised 
against Germany; and England further induced the 
Belgian Government to organise a spying service in 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 211 

Western Germany. At the same time, special efforts 
were again made by the London Cabinet to win over 
Holland and Denmark for the war of destruction. 
But such attempts succeeded just as little now as 
they had formerly done. 

The Germans perceived nothing at all of these 
things. They even believed that the era of intimate 
and durable friendship with England had dawned. 
The British Government was very satisfied with this 
state of public opinion. The War Minister, Hal- 
dane, who enjoyed the reputation of being a staunch 
friend of Germany because he had translated Scho- 
penhauer and took pleasure in making academical 
speeches about our country, was sent to Berlin early 
in 1912. The real object of his journey was to en- 
deavor to prevent a further development of the Ger- 
man navy. Haldane himself, backed up by English 
financiers and the " pro-German " section of the Eng- 
lish press, never ceased insisting on the fact that the 
German navy was the one obstacle in the way of a 
really intimate friendship between the two countries. 
The result was, that the German naval programme 
in 1912 was badly mutilated. On the other hand, 
England declined the German proposal to conclude 
a Neutrality Agreement. Haldane returned to Lon- 
don. He could well be pleased with the success of 
his mission, albeit he had not obtained all he desired. 
The London Cabinet now knew how strongly the 
Germans wished to remain on friendly terms with 
England; above all Haldane brought his colleagues 



212 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

the invaluable information that the British statesmen 
were, in Germany, considered to be honest. Such 
wholly unmerited confidence rendered, of course, the 
work of British diplomacy all the easier. A per- 
fidious diplomacy cannot possibly wish for anything 
better than to be regarded by its adversary as hon- 
est. Every swindler will agree with this. 

The Italo-Turkish war broke out ; it was followed 
by the Balkan wars. During the war between Italy 
and Turkey, England worked hard to detach the 
former from the Triple Alliance. She did not suc- 
ceed, because the Rome Cabinet understood that, 
under the circumstances then existing, it was better 
for Italy to remain as she was. The same year wit- 
nessed the realisation of the important politico- 
strategical decision of the French Government to 
concentrate its entire fleet in the Mediterranean. 
The pretext alleged for the measure was furnished 
by controversies which arose between France and 
Italy during the Tripolitan war. France feared — 
so it was said — the possibility of a closer co-opera- 
tion of the Powers of the Triple Alliance in the Med- 
iterranean. In this way, popular opinion in Italy 
was excited against France — but against France 
only; and the British Government was well pleased 
at this. The London Cabinet remained, as ever, the 
good friend and guardian of Italy. But the initial 
calculation of English and French diplomatists: 
namely, to separate either Italy or Turkey from Ger- 
many, had failed. The campaign in Tripoli, and 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 21S 

the seizure of Libya by the Italians, had, on the con- 
trary, drawn Italy nearer to her allies. It is evi- 
dent that Germany tried as hard as possible to 
strengthen these tendencies of the Italian Govern- 
ment, and that she made every effort to restore peace 
as quickly as possible. England, France, and Rus- 
sia labored just as actively — perhaps even more so 
— to delay the conclusion of peace. 

Under the auspices of Russia, the first Balkan War 
broke out. The Balkan States had concluded an alli- 
ance; they had decided, in agreement with the Rus- 
sian Government, what was to be taken from Turkey, 
and how the new territories were to be divided among 
themselves. Turkey had overestimated her strength ; 
and this mistake had been shared by Germany. 
After a series of rapid victories, the Balkan States 
succeeded in conquering nearly the whole of Euro- 
pean Turkey. The Bulgarian triumph was even too 
great for Russia; and energetic pressure from St. 
Petersburg was necessary in order to stop the Bul- 
garian advance on Constantinople. This permitted 
the Turks to gain time, and Bulgaria's strength sub- 
sequently proved insufficient. In order to re-settle 
matters in the Balkan Peninsula, the so-called Am- 
bassadors' Conference met in London, together with 
the plenipotentiaries of Turkey and the Balkan 
States. The British Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward 
Grey, himself presided over the Conference. 

The question has been raised in Germany as to 
whether England knew beforehand that the first Bal- 



214 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

kan War was going to break out, and as to whether 
she herself instigated it. It is incontestable that 
both the British Government and the Balkan Com- 
mittee knew of the existence of the Balkan Alliance, 
and were acquainted with the latter's aims. It is, on 
the other hand, not to be supposed that the British 
Government directly organised or instigated the war, 
for the simple reason that it did not need a war. 
The vehicle put in motion by the British Government 
was already rolling along the track, without it being 
necessary to push it; and it is not the custom of 
British statesmen to give unnecessary publicity to 
their intentions — on the contrary. The anti-Turk- 
ish agitation in the Balkans was always favored by 
England. As soon as it had been seen that the 
Young Turks, in spite of their original preference 
for France and England, had come to recognise that 
the real interests of Turkey demanded the mainte- 
nance of a close and cordial friendship with Ger- 
many, the admiration felt in London in 1909 for the 
new *' liberators " came to a speedy end ; hence- 
forth no effort was spared by British emissaries to 
keep up a permanent war in Albania, permanent 
Armenian unrest in Asia Minor, and a chronic state 
of revolt in South Arabia : all this, of course, in the 
name of Christianity, civilisation, and liberty. In 
1912 and 1913 Great Britain judged the Balkan 
problem more or less in the following terms: the de- 
struction of the Turkish Empire in Europe could not 
be disadvantageous to British interests as such, but 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 215 

it would under all circumstances render the situation 
of Austria-Hungary and Germany in the Balkans 
uncommonly difficult, and would necessarily weaken 
both Powers immensely in the future war. In the 
eyes of the outside observer British diplomacy had 
the merit of working for the maintenance of the 
status quo, and in view of the limitation of the war ; 
and this " virtue in the sight of the world " was un- 
doubtedly an advantage. The British Government 
worked, of course, hand-in-hand with Germany, Aus- 
tria-Hungary, Russia, and France ; it had the great- 
est admiration for the Balkan States, but also deep 
sympathy for Turkey, who had, unfortunately, not 
listened in time to England's disinterested counsels. 
With laudable energy Sir Edward Grey supported 
Servia's claims, which were incompatible with Aus- 
trian interests ; and most intelligently did he encour- 
age Austria-Hungary's policy of temporisation. 
Devoted, as usual, to the cause of peace, Sir Edward 
assisted the Powers to create an independent Al- 
bania, and then did everything he could to make the 
Albanian question an apple of discord between Aus- 
tria and Italy. All these events are too near our 
own times, and are too directly bound up with the 
present, for us to be able to submit them here to de- 
tailed critical analysis. It is certain that England 
knew from the beginning that she must inevitably 
be the winner in the Balkans, in whatever manner the 
affairs of the Peninsula should develop, and what- 
ever should be the solution of each problem in itself. 



^16 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

The secret of England's strength has always resided 
therein, that she has never allowed her attention to 
be distracted by secondary problems ; she has always 
had one great main object in view, and she seeks un- 
ceasingly to approach ever nearer the realisation of 
this fundamental aim. She cares not which way is 
taken, nor what means are adopted, neither does she 
mind if delays should occur. With the one goal al- 
ways before her eyes, she works alternately with this 
and with that Power, appearing first of all as rep- 
resentative of one group of Powers, subsequently as 
the representative of another, later on co-operating 
with both, and finally equally far from both; to-day 
threatening, to-morrow coaxing, the day after to- 
morrow apparently disinterested and detached, al- 
ways indifferent to questions of form, and caring 
only for the substance. Thus it happens that Eng- 
land's political and diplomatic apparatus possesses 
wonderful freedom of action; that the direction in 
which the ship of state is steered can be easily 
changed to suit the winds and the tides ; and that the 
loss of strength due to inner friction is reduced to a 
minimum. 

During the Balkan Wars British policy manifested 
on more than one occasion friendly and loving anx- 
iety about German interests in the Mediterranean. 
The London Cabinet took pleasure in tapping the 
" German cousin " on the shoulder, and pointing to- 
wards Syria and Asia Minor — with such insistence 
that anxiety arose in Paris and St. Petersburg 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 217 

about the " German aspirations." British diploma- 
tists .whispered in the ears of the Turks that Germany 
desired a partition of the Ottoman Empire, and had 
already prepared for herself a sphere of interest in 
Asia Minor. In Berlin, on the other hand, the Brit- 
ish representatives showed anxious faces ; they de- 
clared that, as a consequence of the victories of the 
Balkan States, the position obtained by Russia was 
becoming a danger for England. It was sought, in 
this way, to persuade the German statesmen that 
England needed the help of Germany, and that the 
former was quite willing secretly to undermine the 
Triple Entente, and to effect a rapprochement with 
the German Empire. In reality all these manipula- 
tions were the result of careful calculations, and were 
intended to cast a veil over the real aim of British 
policy in the Near East. This aim was to accentuate 
and increase the divergencies between Russia and 
Germany in that part of the world. Whereas it was 
endeavored to make German statesmen believe that 
England was very anxious, and needed Germany's 
assistance — in other words, that she was being 
driven by necessity over to Germany's side, the 
whole thing was nothing but an English trick. As a 
matter of fact, England had no special reasons for 
anxiety; for she knew that the further expansion of 
Russia in the Balkans must call in question the exist- 
ence of Austria-Hungary; in this way would the 
great conflict have broken out, or else the Central 
Powers would have given way. England did not de- 



218 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

sire a rapprochement with Germany, she only pre- 
tended to desire it. The main thing was, that Ger- 
many should believe this desire to be sincere. The 
Cabinets in Paris and St. Petersburg were perfectly 
at ease about the matter, and knew full well that, 
should any serious difficulty arise. Great Britain 
would at once support them actively. Such was the 
case at the end of 1913, when the question of the 
German Military Mission to Constantinople arose. 
When England, this time, took up in conjunction 
with Russia and France so resolutely hostile an atti- 
tude towards Germany, the value of the famous 
Anglo-German " intimacy " became evident for all 
those who, having eyes, wished to see things as they 
were. 

He who, in those days, was so foolish as to lack 
confidence, was always reminded of the Anglo-Ger- 
man negotiations concerning Central Africa and the 
railroads of Asia Minor. Early in 1914 came the 
further negotiations concerning petroleum springs 
in Persia. To-day it is not yet possible to discuss 
these matters freely and openly, but this much can 
be said: the Anglo-German negotiations in question 
were, partly at any rate, means whereby the atten- 
tion of the Germans might be withdrawn from the 
systematic and carefully planned development of the 
preparations for war in England, France, and Rus- 
sia. In the middle of the Anglo-German honeymoon 
in 1913 and 1914, British and Russian officers were 
busy drawing up the Naval Convention which pro- 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 219 

vided for attacking operations to be undertaken in 
common by the British and Russian fleets in the Bal- 
tic, and, in conjunction with the Russian army, 
against the German coast. The English press spoke 
a lot about the new friendship with Germany; only 
when the navies of the two countries came under dis- 
cussion, did it betray anxiety. Mr. Churchill spoke 
of the German fleet as a " luxury," and made one 
tactless attempt after another to bring about a 
naval " understanding." The object of such an 
" understanding " was, as usual, to reduce the 
strength of the German navy in such a way that the 
British fleet should run no risk in attacking it. Sev- 
eral people in Germany actively seconded these laud- 
able efl'orts, in order to consolidate the friendship 
between the two Powers. 

About the same time, certain London newspapers, 
which are known to entertain friendly relations with 
the British Foreign Office, declared that real peace 
could not exist in Europe until the " burning ques- 
tion of Alsace-Lorraine had been settled." Once 
more was the value of the much-vaunted Anglo- 
German friendship clear to those whose eyes proved 
capable of seeing things as they were. On either 
side of the water, enthusiastic speeches celebrated 
that friendship, while all the time the noise could be 
heard of the colossal armaments in France and Rus- 
sia and the language of the French and Russian 
press was not less menacing than the armaments 
themselves. In Germany, all this was declared to 



220 THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

be mere boasting. As long as we had England as a 
friend, everything else was immaterial. The news 
concerning the immense development of the Russian 
armaments, and especially the minute care with which 
they were methodically planned and carried out, was 
treated in Germany with scepticism. It never oc- 
curred to the majority of the Germans that, if Eng- 
land had entertained feelings of sincere friendship 
for Germany, she would never have tolerated a dan- 
gerous growth of French and Russian armaments. 
The few who insisted on this fact — who maintained 
that not only did England tolerate the constant in- 
crease of dangerous tension, but that she was the 
leader and organiser of an European coalition 
against the German Empire: these were treated as 
"loud-mouthed jingoes" incapable of appreciating 
the value of Anglo-German friendship. 

Let us suppose for a minute that the Heir to the 
Austro-Hungarian throne had not been murdered in 
June, 1914 ; and let us also suppose that the Anglo- 
German negotiations in the Near East and in Cen- 
tral Africa had been brought to a conclusion, as the 
Germans had hoped. Would, in this case, a stable 
order of things have resulted? England certainly 
hoped for such stability, but only as regards an order 
of things favorable to her own interests. Her cal- 
culation was approximately as follows : owing to the 
accomplishment of her wishes in Asia Minor and Cen- 
tral Africa, Germany would be kept very busy (in 
an economic sense) for a long time to come. Much 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT S21 

money would be invested in the undertakings, and the 
tendency to spend immense ^ums for military pur- 
poses would gradually disappear in Germany. The 
new position of ever-growing importance occupied 
by Germany in the Near East, would rapidly cause 
the antagonism between her and Russia to increase. 
England would often have the opportunity of em- 
ploying Germany to checkmate Russia, instead of 
having to intervene directly herself. At the same 
time, French dissatisfaction with Germany would aug- 
ment. The German Empire, on the other hand, 
would have full confidence in England's friendship, 
and be fully convinced of the latter's pacific inten- 
tions. The new colonial undertakings must neces- 
sarily multiply the weak spots in the defence of the 
German Empire, by increasing the number of points 
where it could be attacked; in this way would the 
Empire's strength of decision, and its determination 
to risk everything in a war, be weakened. The Ger- 
man nation would become more and more accessible 
to the argument according to which German}^, hav- 
ing obtained from England's benevolence all she de- 
sired, must in return do her best to show her " good 
will." The era of " feverish armaments " would be 
at an end. Viewed from this standpoint, it becomes 
evident that England's policy of " confidential 
friendship " aimed first of all at unnerving Germany ; 
after which, a reduction of the latter's mihtary and 
naval strength must follow as a natural consequence. 
It would then be all the easier for England's well- 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

armed Continental vassals, France and Russia, either 
to obtain the break-up of the Austro-German alli- 
ance, and the humiliation of the two Central Powers, 
by threats ; or else to force these Powers on to their 
knees at the point of the bayonet. Whenever neces- 
sary, whenever a grave crisis should arise, Eng- 
land would throw the whole weight of her influence 
into the balance ; and her " advice " would be con- 
sidered the more acceptable, in the measure that the 
German people were convinced of the sincerity and 
disinterestedness of British friendship. The only 
thing necessary was patience. 

All these plans were disturbed by the assassina- 
tion of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand. Events 
pursued the course that we all know. As soon as the 
European situation became dangerously strained, the 
British Government retreated into the background, 
made perfidious proposals of mediation to Germany, 
and advised everyone to remain peaceful. We have 
here, likewise, a time-honored historical method of 
British diplomacy. In this way docs the latter coin 
the phrases which, once war has broken out, shall 
serve to justify the British Government, and to in- 
flame the public opinion of as many countries as 
possible. In this way does that Government collect 
" unimpeachable " diplomatic documents for Blue 
Books. In this way does it wait until the final de- 
velopments of the crisis engineered by England her- 
self produce the great and decisive " phrase," which 
shall be adopted as the British parole during the war. 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

This time it was the phrase about Belgium's neutral- 
ity — a neutrality broken by England systematic- 
ally for the past nine years. As soon as the great 
phrase had been coined, England appeared suddenly 
as the leader of the European anti-German coalition, 
and proclaimed: Germany must be annihilated, mili- 
tarily, politically, economically. And, all over the 
world, deeds immediately followed words. The def- 
initely fixed, carefully planned-out programme had 
only to be followed. It was followed, and yet are 
there still to-day people in Germany who maintain 
that England was led astray by the wicked diplo- 
matists of France and Russia, and was driven against 
her will into war. Some representatives of this opin- 
ion belong to the hopeless category of the believers 
in an Anglo-German understanding, and even now 
they blindly refuse to recognise their former errors 
of judgment; we are not appealing to them. But 
there are others who have been deceived by the be- 
havior of British diplomacy during the crisis pre- 
ceding the war. Such behavior is, we repeat, typical. 
For ten years before the war every single political 
circle in Great Britain — King, Ministerialists, Op- 
position — had prepared and organised the Euro- 
pean coalition, for the purpose of waging a war of 
destruction against Germany. The crime of Sera- 
yevo brought about the crisis earlier than had been 
expected. The moment the crisis broke out, the 
leader of the European coalition retired discreetly 
into the darkness, made proposals, and preached 



^M THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT 

peace. England maintained that she had not com- 
mitted herself to either side, that her hands were 
free, and that she only desired peace. The exchange 
of diplomatic notes, during the crisis, between Lon- 
don, Paris, and St. Petersburg, was nothing else but 
an English mise en scene, " Historical documents " 
they are, but certainly not witnesses to historical 
truth. 

The present war is, as we hope to have shown, a 
typically English war of destruction waged against 
a continental rival who was at once envied and feared. 
The history of the war cannot yet be written in de- 
tail. For the purpose of the present book, such a 
detailed history is not — as we believe to have proved 
— necessary. But what is necessary is, that the 
entire German nation should understand where the 
enemy is and what he wants ; it is essential that the 
German nation should know that this is not an acci- 
dental war, but a war carried on with the object of 
annihilating an economic rival. If England's eco- 
nomic rival is powerless on land and sea, he can be 
throttled without a war. That was not possible in 
the case of Germany. British statesmen had always 
two programmes in readines§, and clearly defined: 
peace, if Germany gave way and allowed herself to 
be humiliated; war, if it should be otherwise. Ger-" 
many desired only peace, believed only in peace, and 
was convinced that England would take no part in 
a war against her, if only the German Empire would 
promise to make no profit out of a Continental war 



THE VAMPIRE OF THE CONTINENT SS5 

— that is to say, if it would promise to act like a 
good boy in conformity with what were wrongly sup- 
posed to be England's wishes. It was only natural 
that the London Cabinet should not have accepted 
this point of view; for it was very far indeed from 
sharing the German ideas, aspirations, and anxieties ! 
It intended to destroy Germany; and its only con- 
cern was: how to arrange the final mise en scene 
which should set the ball rolling. 



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